1stXI Match Report: Tunbridge Wells v. Beckenham

The age-old cricketing adage ‘catches win matches’ never had a more compelling example than Beckenham’s encounter with high-flying Tunbridge Wells at the Nevill on Saturday.  The Beckenham scorer had been contemplating the match during the week with ‘get the Williams brothers early’ uppermost in his deliberations closely followed by the joy of meeting up with his new furry friend Nero and ‘Little Em’, his owner and scoring colleague.

Grey skies and rain delayed the start by 35 minutes and the two scorers received the news that Beckenham had won the toss and asked Tunbridge Wells to bat on a firm, good-looking pitch.  Visiting openers Shojib Ali and Jahid Ahmed bowled steadily with the former drawing first blood when he flattened Bhatia’s middle stump.  With home skipper Chris Williams getting ominously into his stride, another breakthrough came in the 9th over when Will Stickler was safely held by Rithik Hari off Ahmed.  Sadly the same fielder was guilty of giving the dangerous Williams his first life by spilling a regulation catch that appeared to hang in the air for a long time.  With Williams making the most of his let-off and forging on in the company of Chris Davis, it was Johan Malcolm, partnered with Harry Jones, who dismissed the former Sussex batsman with a catch by James Fear.  This brought brother Alex to the crease, fresh from his glut of runs the previous weekend.  Another let-off for Chris on his way to a fine fifty in 67 balls with Malcolm getting both hands to one but horrified to see it bounce out.  However, some joy came Beckenham’s way with the return of Ahmed to trap Alex in front for 13 and then being followed by Malcolm dismissing Will Stickler to make the score 122-5 and raising hopes of being able to restrict Wells to a manageable target.  These hopes received yet another knock as Chris Williams, upper-cutting to third man, was dropped yet again from a regulation chance.  That really took the wind out of the visitors’ sails as Mike Waller and Williams combined to great effect to push the run rate upwards and onwards with Williams reaching a magnificent century in 100 balls.  Their fine stand was worth 88 before Rob Clements, wheeling away with his left-arm spin, ended Williams’ innings with a safely-judged mid-wicket catch by Harry Jones.  This signalled a good spell of play for the visitors with Jones, in a steady spell, dismissing Mark McLean and before the highlight of a magnificent one-handed catch off Clements to hand 17-year old James McCaffrey a Primary against the club which founded the Primary Club.  Up in the celestial commentary box, the well-known Australian tones murmured, “What a catch!  Super effort that!”  And so the innings closed on 252-9 with Waller last out for a splendid 54 in 68 deliveries but Beckenham rued the missed chances that had cost them dearly.  Clements with 3-51 took the most wickets but it had been a solid bowling performance let down by missed chances.

The visitors’ innings began brightly with Hari punching a couple of early boundaries as runs came freely aided by some wayward bowling from the Wells openers.  In a season dogged by poor opening partnerships, the best of the season was in sight before Bryan, hitting out at Chris Davis was well-held by Bailey Wightman.  Skipper Alex Senn looked like regaining the form that has eluded him of late and helped Hari push the score to 61 before the introduction of young leg-spinner McCaffrey ripped the innings apart.  With a strong action that pushed the ball through, he took four wickets in five overs with ‘flippers’ that raced through at pace and caught each batsman rooted to the crease, two being trapped in front and two bowled.  This now put Beckenham completely out of the match at 71-5 with the halfway stage not yet reached.  Hari, watching the carnage from the other end, began to get his 2019 form back with some excellent shots and fine running as the lower order tried desperately to turn the innings round.  Ahmed and the redoubtable Balmforth all played valuable cameos until being undone by Mark McLean’s left-arm spin which also ended Hari’s brave vigil one short of a deserved fifty and, with the tail making no worthwhile contributions, the innings was wrapped up for 126.  Young McCaffrey looks to be a real find and his excellent 4-26 will be the first of many fine bowling performances.

Scorecard: https://kcl.play-cricket.com/website/results/4146982 (external site)