1st XI Match Report: Holmesdale v Beckenham
It’s Saturday so it must be raining! And so it did, starting just as the beleaguered Beckenham scorer closed his front door before making his way to the bus stop and thence to Foxgrove for his lift and another prog-rock masterclass during the journey to Montreal Park!
The weather on arrival was even worse so much time spent reminiscing with old friends, umpires John Hope and James Tredwell, before a slight brightening of the skies. The decision was made to play a T20 with Beckenham skipper Alex Senn calling correctly and asking Holmesdale to bat. And this is where it all started to go wrong as home openers Bissett and McDowell dispatched the bowling to all parts with 28 on the board in the third over before Shojib Ali bowled Bissett for an aggressive 24. His departure brought the classy Barbadian, Carlos Maynard, to join McDowell who took up the reins with a flurry of big hits while Maynard found his range and did likewise. Only when Rob Clements joined the attack did there seem to be a slackening of the carnage and he was rewarded with the wicket of McDowell to a good catch by Ishan Sabharwal. Home skipper Luke Blackaby was content to push the ball around while Maynard attacked and then Clements struck again with Maynard (49) edging behind to give ‘Barney’ Balmforth a neat catch. That was the last success for the visitors as Blackaby and Dom May calmly compiled a stand of 101 before the close of the overs, both batsmen making excellent fifties in 35 and 25 balls respectively. The Beckenham bowling figures make very uncomfortable reading due to the plethora of dreadful loose deliveries served up. Clements deservedly escapes criticism for an excellent spell of 2-26.
With the weather now dry with the prospect of a little sun, it could be reasonably expected that Beckenham would make a decent fist of the reply. Not so as the Holmesdale opening attack of Blackaby and the highly-promising Tonbridge schoolboy Tom Masding dispatched the re-jigged opening pair of Senn and Jahid Ahmed in the first two overs for only 4 runs. The two Beckenham ‘big guns’ of James Fear and Johan Malcolm then strove valiantly to try and claw their side back into the games with Fear launching a ferocious attack on the Holmesdale bowlers and racing to a splendid 50 in 27 balls before Maynard held a Malcolm edge off Rupert Harbig. Fear continued to bat well but support was not overly forthcoming and, when he was fifth out for a splendid 69, there was no light at the end of the tunnel. Rithik Hari batted brightly at the end but has yet to recapture his fine start to 1st XI cricket in 2019. The final score of 149-7 should have been a challenging score but for the poor bowling display earlier.
Scorecard: https://kcl.play-cricket.com/website/results/4146945 (external site)