1st XI Match Report: Beckenham v Lordswood

It was a more than usually pessimistic Beckenham scorer who trudged across to the scorebox having worried constantly as to whether his beloved Beckenham would ever win another game.  With skipper Alex Senn skipping the light fandango at a wedding, how would ‘Barney’ Balmforth cope with the cares of captaincy as well as keeping wicket?  His mood lifted, however, with the prospect of much in-depth discussion of the mysteries of progressive rock with Lordswood colleague Mark.

With two ‘neutral’ umpires in the saddle and both scorers in the box, the toss was made with Lordswood skipper Hugh Scott opting to bat first.  Visiting openers Linden Lockhart and Bradley Goldsack were wary of the pace and bounce of the towering David Moody who shows with each match that he is almost there regarding his acclimatisation to English pitches.  Using the crease cleverly, Moody asked many questions of the batsmen with runs being very hard to come by.  The breakthrough came when Moody blasted through Lockhart’s defences to trap the Lordswood player bang in front and shortly after, new batsman Joe Gordon shouldered arms to a thunderbolt which sent a stump into orbit; 13-2 and a good start.  Goldsack was displaying good, solid technique in the anchor role as he and Scottish international Calum MacLeod worked hard to put the innings back on track.  With Balmforth having made a double switch to pair Harri Aravinthan at the pavilion end with Kamran Khan at the ‘Neil Simpson End’.  And it was the former Ashtead man who made the crucial inroad when MacLeod edged behind to the Beckenham acting skipper.  New arrival Jack Laraman batted fluently from the outset as Goldsack continued to accumulate his runs steadily but the Beckenham bowling was tight even if the fielding was slightly below par.  Enter the experienced Jason (I got Andrew Strauss out) Bilimoria with his off-spin replacing Aravinthan from the pavilion end.  At the other end, Khan, although not producing the clatter of wickets, was bowling an admirable line and keeping things quiet.  It was Bilimoria who struck next by trapping both Laraman and Ed Taylor in front to put Beckenham on top at 99-5.  Now the arrival of Rob Clements to the attack saw the removal of paceman Tom Davis before another revival took place engineered by skipper Scott and the redoubtable Goldsack who had patiently made fifty in 117 balls.  A fifty partnership ensued before Goldsack’s monumental effort ended with a run out and the innings petered out with further wickets for Aravinthan and Junaid Nadir to make the final score 173-9.  The bowling on the whole was excellent with Moody’s 2-16 from 10 overs being the pick but could Beckenham’s notoriously fragile batting get the runs?

And so it came to pass that the partnership of Nick Rigg and Rob Clements sallied forth to face the pace of Tom Davis and Touseeq Shah which is exactly what the home scorer had been pondering on while on the bus to Foxgrove!  It was Clements who made his mark with a couple of crunching boundaries before unaccountably playing a weak shot off Davis to give keeper Piesley the easiest of catches.  Meanwhile, Rigg was batting nicely, getting into line and playing straight and he was joined by James Fear who looked in good form until Shah held an excellent sharp return catch and then the same bowler trapped Aravinthan in front first ball to make the score 32-3.  Ross Piller, making a welcome return to Premier action, immediately showed responsible batting with a sound technique as a very promising stand began to take shape.  Rigg was, by now, batting quite beautifully with exquisite timing and deft touches, his bat like a gleaming rapier in the hands of D’Artagnan.  Since his arrival at the club, everybody has known that he is a good player but so often a promising start was snuffed out.  Thankfully, this seemed to have become a misty memory as he grew in stature to direct the innings into the broad, sunlit uplands missing so often this season.  His first fifty for Beckenham was greeted with much appreciation from the sizeable crowd and the score passed the magic hundred mark.  Sadly, having worked so hard, Ross Piller’s fine innings was ended with Scott claiming his leg before for 31.  Rigg, however, was in full flow, caressing the ball and running like a greyhound between the wickets despite a couple of glitches making the score 129-6 in the 36th over.  Tension began to mount as Lordswood kept up the pressure but the target inched closer, the imperious Rigg being given staunch support by Nadir and Khan who both struck important boundaries to ease the pressure.  It was Khan who struck the winning boundary amid scenes of great joy and both he and the superb Rigg left the field to the excited ministrations of their colleagues.  This had been a hard-fought victory against combative opponents and hopefully a starting point for a resurgence in fortunes.

Scorecard: https://beckenham.play-cricket.com/website/results/5093730 (external site)