1stXI Match Report: Minster (Sheppey) v Beckenham
The final match of this eminently forgettable (for Beckenham anyway!) season, involved a bus trip to the far-off island of Sheppey and the Premier runners-up, Minster. Arriving in plenty of time, the Beckenham scorer joined some of the team in a pitch inspection which looked green and well-grassed until it had had its pre-match trim. A quick lunch and chat with umpire John Harkin and it was off to join colleague Val in the spacious new scorebox. Minster had won the toss and elected to bat with Beckenham fielding a mostly young attack – all products of the successful youth scheme. Home openers James Thompson and Ed Moore started steadily against Harri Aravinthan and Dulwich schoolboy James Ronay. Both bowlers performed well until the Minster pair decided to unleash the heavy artillery and soon the score stood at 60 from 9 overs and the hundred in 14. Moore raced to a splendid fifty in 34 balls with Thompson inevitably following in 65. Skipper Alex Senn saved both bowlers from further punishment by pairing Archie Holman with the left-arm spin of Ishan Sabharwal. Both young bowlers kept their heads and it was the latter who made the first breakthrough by having Moore smartly stumped by James Balmforth for 81, the opening stand having been worth 128. Joseph Parry joined Thompson in a further stand which was ended with skipper Senn coming on for Holman and trapping Parry in front for 21. Kai Appleby kept the score moving at a fine rate while Thompson continued his bombardment of the short boundary on the pavilion side in completing a trademark hundred from 140 balls. Ronay was reintroduced to the attack and, after being hammered for two sixes, got his revenge when Appleby holed out to Senn for 31. Enter Essex’s Aron Nijjar and the momentum increased as he too began to pepper the boundaries. To their credit, none of the Beckenham bowlers dropped their heads in the face of this onslaught with Aravinthan having Nijjar caught behind off the final ball of the innings for 45, the total a massive 353-4 and Thompson 157 not out. From this carnage, Sabharwal must be singled out for his 1-38 from 10 overs while young Sam Coulson again showed the virtues of bowling a good line to a well-set field.
On what was now turning out to be a very good pitch, Gethin Roberts immediately started to take the fight to Minster with a most confident start. As skipper Senn took a back seat, Roberts went through the gears in splendid fashion showing excellent shot-production and good running. Senn’s awful season with the bat ended in familiar fashion when he tamely holed out against the left-arm spin of Nijjar. The arrival of James Fear immediately led to a great increase in run rate as he unleashed a barrage of imperious drives. Roberts, meanwhile, busied himself in notching a great first 1st XI fifty in 53 balls with Fear’s coming in a mere 37. Minster skipper Moore was forced to ring the changes as Beckenham’s score rocketed towards 150 with only one wicket down and had the Beckenham scorer wondering about the seemingly impossible task of overhauling the target. Sadly this was not to be as Roberts holed out weakly against Appleby for a splendid 79 while, as has happened so often this season, another well-set batsman departed in quick succession as Fear was bowled by Greg Lamb for 74. Thereafter, wickets began to fall at regular intervals until the score stood at 189-6 after cameos from Nick Rigg (20) and Holman (18), the latter showing glimpses of the batting form he displayed against Sandwich Town a fortnight ago. James Balmforth rallied the tail to record only Beckenham’s first maximum batting bonus points of the season as the final wicket fell on 250, thus ending Beckenham’s 11-year stint in the Premier. The close season will, no doubt, see much discussion as to the way forward with this scorer preparing to visit the likes of The Mote, Linden Park, Whitstable and Dartford, grounds not visited for many years.
Scorecard: https://beckenham.play-cricket.com/website/results/5093781 (external site)