1stXI Match Report : Lordswood v. Beckenham

Beckenham’s mathematical chance of remaining in the Premier was dashed at the Peter Edmonds Ground on Saturday as Lordswood handed out an 87-run defeat.  However, on another very hot and sunny day, there were a few promising displays to raise this scorer’s spirits.

As colleague Lin and this scorer settled into the remarkably cool scorebox to await the result of the toss which, when it came, condemned Beckenham, shorn of five members of last week’s team, to an afternoon in the field.  Lordswood openers Bradley Goldsack and Ed Taylor started steadily against Harri Aravinthan and Dave Moody on a decent track.  After 10 overs, both were rested and the young pairing of Fraser Whiteland and James Ronay were in action.  With the score on 60, Whiteland, bowling an impressive line at brisk pace, made the breakthrough when Taylor was safely held by Moody.  In his next over, Goldsack went similarly and Beckenham’s tails were up.  At the other end, Ronay, bowling with impressive pace and much smoother delivery, struck with a beauty that Joe Gordon had to play at to give an ecstatic ‘Barney’ Balmforth a regulation catch.  That was the last success for the visitors for some time as Linden Lockhart and Jack Laraman started to put together a solid stand although the Beckenham attack stuck to their guns and the fielding never wilted.  Lockhart compiled a solid fifty in 71 balls with Laraman offering good support.  Due to lacking regular bowlers, skipper Alex Senn paired himself with young left-arm spinner Ishan Sabharwal and was rewarded with the wicket of Laraman for 31.  Lockhart and Mike French continued to push the score along with another fifty partnership as the innings entered the final ten overs.  Back came Sabharwal with Harri Aravinthan and it was the left-arm spinner who set the game alight with a splendid display of controlled spin bowling which cut a swathe through the remaining batting.  In a 3-over spell, Sabharwal took 3-11, the second of which was Lockhart for an excellent 70 as Lordswood crashed to 219-8.  However, sound batting from Scott and Raza took the final score to 254-8, a huge mountain for Beckenham to climb.  Sabharwal deservedly took the bowling award for his 4-53 closely followed by Whiteland with 2-33.  Behind the sticks, Balmforth snaffled four catches in another fine display.

The Beckenham innings suffered an early setback as Rithik Hari was forced to retire injured.  Gethin Roberts, meanwhile, was again showing great promise although he was asked questions by a penetrative opening spell from Tauseef Shah.  As he was joined by skipper Senn, a decent stand began to take shape with Senn batting much more solidly than for some considerable time.  Then, having done all the hard work and with a fifty there for the taking, Roberts suffered a rush of blood and departed after playing an appalling shot against Laraman to be bowled.  Aravinthan settled in and began to bat fluently as Senn continued to anchor the innings.  Having struck two magnificent sixes, Aravinthan tried to launch Hugh Scott, played across the line and was trapped in front.  Ross Piller then immediately took the fight to the opposition with a flurry of boundaries as Senn inched towards his first fifty of the season.  With the score at 140-2 in the 34th over, amazingly the match was in the balance if only Beckenham could hold their nerve and push on.  Sadly, this was not going to happen as Senn departed one agonising run short of a well-deserved fifty when he was dismissed by Lockhart who then took two further wickets to leave Beckenham in the execution chamber, pinioned and hooded, waiting for the executioner to do his ghastly deed.  Dave Moody joined Piller in pushing the score to 160 before the return of Shah ended Piller’s fine knock of 34.  Thereafter it was all over as Shah destroyed the rest of the batting for 167.  All that remained now was for the executioner to adjust the noose and push the lever to send Beckenham plummeting through the trapdoor into Division 1 for 2023.  A glance through the scorebook reveals the main cause of Beckenham’s demise, the batting.  No less than 21 occasions were recorded when a player failed to score and 10 of these ‘ducks’ were Primaries, a grim statistic for the club which founded the Primary Club!

Scorecard: https://beckenham.play-cricket.com/website/results/5093780 (external site)