1stXI Match Report: Canterbury v Beckenham
A fine, breezy day greeted the Beckenham team alighting from the hired minibus at polo Farm, home of high-flying Canterbury. After a catch-up with scoring colleague Chris and a chat to the umpires over a light lunch, it was off to the scorebox in readiness for the start. Skipper Alex Senn won the toss and had elected to field which seemed to be a sensible choice as the Beckenham side was minus key players James Fear and Johan Malcolm.
For a while, it looked as if the decision was a good one as Mahfuzul Mahi removed Jack Wheeler in the third over and then a smart run out by Gethin Roberts sent back Anaouche to make the score a promising 26-2 in the sixth over. After some dampness in the pitch had disappeared and it started to play like a typically true Polo Farm surface, Beckenham fortunes began to wane as home skipper Isaac Dilkes and Duncan Moore joined forces and the score began to mount at a fine rate. The Beckenham fielding became largely patchy and the bowling began to lack punch and control as Canterbury took control. Dilkes reached fifty in 53 balls and was soon followed by his partner with no breakthrough looking likely for the visitors. Soon the century partnership came and went with Dilkes completing a magnificent hundred in 111 balls and the carnage ended on 198 with ten overs remaining when Saad Khan ran out Moore for a splendid 75. Dilkes found great support in Tom Davis and the pair added a further 72, Dilkes passing 150 before he offered a simple catch to Rob Clements to depart on 151. Worse was to follow as Davis and Jarred Lysaught got out the heavy furniture and blasted the ragged Beckenham attack to all parts in posting a mammoth 310-4. This was a very poor effort from Beckenham, lacklustre bowling compounded by a poor fielding display. After a gloomy tea with the umpires, it was time to see what Beckenham could do with the bat!
The Canterbury opening attack consisted of the sharp pace of Tom Davis from one end and the mysterious Euan Munday from the other. Mysterious as colleague Chris had mentioned Munday having ‘muscle problems’ which meant that this scorer was left trying to work out what he was bowling, medium pace or quickish off-spin! In any event, he went through the three out of the top four like the proverbial knife through butter to leave Beckenham 16-3 in the seventh over. Relief of sorts came through the partnership between Saad Khan and Ross Piller. Without ever looking to threaten the huge target, both batsmen kept the score ticking over with Khan reaching a solid fifty in 67 balls before departing at 108 with Piller continuing to keep the score moving but falling just short of fifty. The less said about the remains of the innings the better as the introduction of Millard saw the last three wickets fall in three overs for a pathetic total of 188. This had been a thoroughly professional display by Canterbury who all bowled well and the fielding was magnificent. Beckenham were left to contemplate an appalling display and this scorer still finds it incomprehensible how so many batters can bat like it’s the second week in April on a true batting pitch at the end of July!
Scorecard: https://beckenham.play-cricket.com/website/results/5619408 (external site)