1stXI Match Report: Folkestone v Beckenham (League)
After last week’s washout, Beckenham arrived in the ‘Bees’ Bus’ to glorious sunshine at Three Hills Park, home of Folkestone. There was, however, an inordinately stiff breeze blowing right down this famous old ground which had the Beckenham scorer musing that he would have been bowling into it in years gone by! In today’s team were new overseas player Saad Khan as well as the welcome return to League action of Johan Malcolm.
Home skipper Chris Jay won the toss and elected to bat and the two scorers settled down in the impressive scoring position high up on the impressive, busy leisure centre which had replaced the lovely old County pavilion years ago. He must have regretted this decision as Junaid Nadir immediately homed in on the correct line and length and struck twice in his second over with just a single on the board. Firstly, Malik edged behind to James Balmforth and then Sheikh was trapped in front first ball, just the start the visitors needed after a long journey. At the other end, Matt Fanning was bowling accurately at a lively pace and runs were not easy to come by. Singh and Jay started a recovery with a stand of 25 before Fanning got his just reward as he had the Folkestone skipper bang in front to leave the home side groggy on 26-3 in the 10th over. Stuart Graham started steadily when he joined Singh with Saad Khan’s left-arm spin being brought into play. The pair pushed the score up to 60 before Khan bowled Singh to bring in ex-Kent and England’s James Treadwell, promoted to the first-class umpires’ register and free at weekends; a very useful addition to Folkestone’s playing strength. With Tredwell content to keep the scoreboard ticking over, Graham started to accelerate and reached a splendid fifty in 62 balls. A fine century partnership was ended on the introduction of Malcolm for his second spell having replaced Khan, when Alex Shanks held a superb catch to send back Tredwell for a steady 39. Graham, meanwhile, was in full flow and the run rate climbed although he was pinned down when in the ‘nervous nineties’, finally reaching an excellent hundred at a run-a-ball. Khan returned from the other end and struck twice in his final over to finish with fine figures of 3-25. Graham’s fine innings came to an end when he was run out leaving Malcolm to clean up the tail to finish with 3-61 as Folkestone were all out for 217.
The Beckenham reply started well with both Gethin Roberts and Alex Senn looking in good form. As happened so often last season when looking well-set, Roberts dabbed at one outside off-stump from Nick Ward to give keeper Haratbar a straightforward catch. Rithik Hari also looked in good form sharing a good stand of 41 with Senn before holing out to Ward from Sam Ireland. Another setback came when newly-arrived Saad Khan sent back Senn who was run out at the bowler’s end which was a tragedy as he seemed to have moved on from his nightmare season last year. This brought Johan Malcolm to join Khan who was impressing as a neat, compact left-hander. Malcolm was soon into his stride and it became all too clear how much he was missed last season. The run rate was now moving along at a most healthy rate. Malcolm was in sight of a well-deserved fifty when Chris Jay tempted him into holing out to Singh for 42. Khan was now in complete control and was given useful support from Mahi (15) but the innings was given impetus with the arrival of Shanks who struck a six and a four off Tredwell as Khan completed a splendid fifty. On Shanks’ dismissal at 200, Junaid Nadir lent invaluable support as Khan struck the fourth ball of the final over for four to secure an excellent victory for Beckenham in a very fine game of cricket. Khan remained unbeaten at the end with 64 and looks to be a great addition to the side.
Scorecard: https://beckenham.play-cricket.com/website/results/5619426 (external site)