1st XI Match Report - Sevenoaks Vine v. Beckenham (League)

Sevenoaks Vine, one of the oldest cricket grounds in Kent, looked a picture in the glorious sunshine with its new outfield as a result of ‘lockdown ravaging’.  Greeting old friend Charles, already busy in the box connecting up items of modern technology, the Beckenham scorer settled down to chat with the umpires and have lunch.

Back in the box, the news came that the Vine had won the toss and sent Beckenham in.  Again the innings didn’t get off to a good start with an unlucky Finn Bryan brilliantly held one-handed by Miles Richardson at second slip.  Skipper Alex Senn and Nick Rigg pushed the score along confidently until Rigg was unfortunate in getting a leg-side tickle to be caught behind at 51 off the left-arm spin of Andy Reid-Dick.  Enter James Fear who has been in good form this season to increase the scoring rate with Senn playing the anchor role.  The pair compiled an excellent fifty partnership with Fear looking to add another fifty when he holed out to Mike Barber off the bowling of veteran Jon Bowden for 36.  Senn, meanwhile, reached a solid fifty in 88 deliveries before being trapped in front by Reid-Dick to make the score 127-4 in the 36th over, a long way short of setting a challenging target against a persistent Vine spin attack backed up by sharp fielding.  Rithik Hari added good support to Johan Malcolm who was quickly into his stride and the pair added a quick 30 before Bowden struck again by pinning Hari in front.  Malcolm found great support in Jahid Ahmed and the pair took up the charge with some excellent attacking strokeplay to take the score past the 200 before Vine skipper Luke Schlemmer removed both in quick succession as the Beckenham innings closed on 215-7 with Malcolm singularly unlucky to miss out on another fifty.  The Vine left-arm spin trip of Reid-Dick, Bowden and Schlemmer all bowled well to take a brace apiece.

Vine openers Chris Vernon and Cambridge Blue Harry Houillon started brightly before Alex Purwar broke through to trap Vernon in front.  Houillon was now showing his class and Senn brought on Johan Malcolm and the switch paid dividends as he dismissed partner Evert Bekker, edging behind to James Balmforth, from his first ball.  Houillon continued to score freely and elegantly as Rob Clements joined the attack from the pavilion end.  The bowling change again came up trumps as he dismissed Houillon in his first over for a classy 43 to make the score 79-3.  That was the last Beckenham success for some considerable time as Schlemmer and Mike Barber both settled in very quickly and the run rate moved along inexorably as, try as they may, the Beckenham bowlers just couldn’t break through.  Both batsmen made excellent half-centuries, Schlemmer’s from 70 balls and Barber 82 and, when debutant Kamran Khan had Barber edging behind to Balmforth for 54 at 194, the game was almost over and it was left to a muscular flurry of boundaries from keeper Ben Price to seal victory in the 45th over to make it three defeats in a row for the defending champions.  With two of the top teams coming up in the next fortnight, the consistent lack of a decent start to the innings and the bowling are areas of great concern.

Scorecard: https://kcl.play-cricket.com/website/results/4146973 (external site)