1stXI Match Report: Beckenham v Canterbury (League)
There’s an old cricketing adage that has been handed down the generations which states that catches win matches. This was demonstrated at Foxgrove yesterday in spectacular fashion as visitors Canterbury snapped up five brilliant catches from bare half-chances to condemn Beckenham to a first League defeat of the season. In truth this was a very below-par all-round showing with poor batting not posting a defendable total and compounded by a lacklustre fielding display and decidedly profligate bowling.
Having greeted old friend Chris, the two scorers were given the news that Alex Senn had won the toss and elected to bat first. The opening salvoes indicated some movement and a little variable bounce and the score proceeded cautiously. Yet again Gethin Roberts looked very comfortable and, just as he should have been well set, was back in the pavilion. Archie Holman followed shortly afterwards before Saad Khan joined Alex Senn in a promising stand which was ended on 51 when Senn fell to Isaac Dilkes’ off-spin. Johan Malcolm joined Khan and looked to be turning the innings round with assured batting when Khan fell to a fine catch by Moore off first-change Jarred Lysaught. Malcolm and Ross Piller took the score past the hundred in the 27th over before the off-spinner Bulathsinhala clung on to a brilliant return catch to dismiss Malcolm for 22 and then removing Piller, edging behind to Wheeler for 24. Mahi carried on from where he left off last week with yet another confident, dominant batting showing. He lost two partners to Lysaught and the steady medium-pacer White but took the score to 161 before being brilliantly caught on the boundary by Lysaught for 32. The innings closed on 164 as the returning left-arm seamer Smith dismissed James Balmforth. This had been a poor batting display with so many batters getting out when well set but the Canterbury fielding was brilliant and all of their bowlers bowled very well, despite conceding 21 wides which made the Beckenham total look even worse!
For the second week running, the visitors made a jet-propelled start with the two left-handers Wheeler and Burt playing some excellent text-book strokes against some truly awful bowling by the home side. Johan Malcolm entered the attack much earlier than skipper Senn probably would have liked, and he soon made the first breach by having Wheeler well-held by Saad Khan. Matt Fanning then removed Dilkes to a trademark slip catch by Malcolm and Beckenham were back in the match. Unfortunately, this was the last success for some considerable time as Burt, anchoring the innings, and skipper Jarryd Taig shared a fifty partnership with Burt reaching a fine fifty in 92 balls. The introduction of Mahi brought a dramatic turnaround as, in his second over, he had Burt brilliantly held by Ross Piller for 60. With Khan bowling his left-arm spin expertly from the other end, three wickets fell on 130 to give Beckenham a great chance on 130-6. Another wicket from Khan on 141 raised the home side’s hopes further but the tall figure of Lysaught was at the crease. Canterbury scorer Chris confidently told me that, should Lysaught be dismissed, Beckenham would win but that he had the capacity to hit the ball a long way if allowed to! Unfortunately for Beckenham, it was the latter scenario that prevailed as 20 from one over tied the scores with the single for victory coming in the 38th over.
A great improvement must be the order of the day with the visit next week to the notoriously fast-scoring Belmont ground, home of Whitstable who have started the season in fine style.
Scorecard: https://beckenham.play-cricket.com/website/results/5619377 (External site)