1stXI Match Report : Bromley v. Beckenham

The sun beat down on a glorious summer Saturday as the Beckenham scorer cast an eye over one of Trevor Phillips’ ‘specials’ at Plaistow Lane, the phrase ‘bat with a broomstick on this’ springing to mind. After chatting with the umpires and having a light lunch, it was time to join colleague Ros in the surprisingly warm box.  Alex Senn had won the toss and elected to bat and, after a brief resume on Ros’ new fox family, it was down to business.

Against the left-arm spin of Daniel and the seam of Almond, Senn and Roberts started steadily until Almond found the edge of Roberts’ bat and skipper Freddie Wilson took the regulation catch (here we go again!) James Fear played himself in and then played confidently with Senn in his anchoring role and the pair added 74 in reasonable time before Anas had Senn edging to Wilson on 45.  Fear went shortly afterwards, being bowled by Anas for 25 and then Johan Malcolm, after one crisp boundary, never got going as Marcus Lilley’s off-spin trapped him in front to make the score 112-4 in the 27th over.  Saad Khan, stylish and composed, was given good support by Ross Piller in a stand of 40 before the latter became Lilley’s second victim.

Now the innings really came alive as Khan reached an excellent fifty in 60 balls with Mahfuzul Mahi lending powerful support.  Khan was now batting with the freedom of the first-class player that he is and the run rate began to rocket. Mahi reached an excellent fifty in 45 balls and then, seemingly in a flash, Khan had raced to his century from 84 balls with the innings closing on a superb 299-5, Khan 107* and Mahi 60*.  For Bromley, Anas and Lilley both bagged a brace with steady support from the other bowlers.

Junaid Nadir gave Beckenham just the right start as he steamed in and had Grant Basey edging behind to Alex Shanks from his third delivery.  The stylish Mulla added 40 with opener Greenleaf before the former was pinned in front by Nadir who then had skipper Wilson brilliantly caught by Roberts (not bad for a keeper!) to leave Bromley on 53-3 in the 10th over.  Mulla continued to bat stylishly and looked an excellent player before falling to Malcolm’s off-spin for 43 with Daniel also dismissed with score remaining on 89-5 and Beckenham were looking comfortable.  Malcolm removed keeper Streets on 102 and Bromley looked down and out.  But cricket’s a funny old game and, just when the game seemed to have been sewn up, the home lower order began to dig in.  Veteran Nicky Bluett, already batting fluently and well, was given useful support by Almond as they added 24 before Almond was well-held by James Fear off Khan who then removed Bluett for a splendid 42.  But Bromley weren’t finished yet as Anas began to bat stylishly with the other veteran James Butterfill who used all of his experience to demonstrate how to score runs in a League situation.  As Beckenham seemed to take the foot off the gas, the two Bromley batters, looking in no trouble at all, added 80 as cool as you like before another brilliant catch by Gethin Roberts denied Butterfill what would have been a well-deserved fifty.  This was the last Beckenham success as Bromley easily batted out to finish on 221-9 with Nadir, Malcolm and Khan all taking three wickets apiece.

Scorecard: https://beckenham.play-cricket.com/website/results/5619399 external site

Sadly Beckenham made an early exit from this year’s T20 competition, being comfortably beaten by Bromley Common and Blackheath in the ‘hub’ staged at Foxgrove on the Sunday.