St. Lawrence show why they are top of the League

Saturday 1st XI - Lost by 174 runs away at St. Lawrence

St. Lawrence CC 250 - 9 (55 overs)
BPCC 76 all out (36.1 overs)

Bickley slumped to another defeat at Highland Court on Saturday against table toppers St Lawrence.
The game started well for he visitors. After winning the toss and fielding Bickley soon reduced St Lawrence to 41 for 4 thanks to straight bowling (2 bowled and an LBW) and a leg side stumping. The new opening partnership of the two Richards – Horner and Clinton claimed two a piece to rip open the much vaunted top order. However with Lincoln (58) and Jenkins (46) at the crease the job was not over and although all the bowlers bowled well Hooper, Glasper and Joseph were sorely missed to provide extra penetration. The pair added 90 before young Freddie Vanden Bergh claimed 2 in quick succession. However with a solid platform, wickets in hand, short straight boundaries and tiring fielders, the St. Lawrence tail profited to take the score up to 250 for 9 of the 55.

The least said about the batting display the better as 35 for 0 became 46 for 7 on a flat wicket against some accurate bowling. The inevitable end – hastened by the bizarre run out of Neil Clinton who drove the ball at silly point – who later admitted was too slow to get out of the way – only for the ball to rebound straight back to the keeper to remove the bails before Neil had even finished his follow through -came in the 38th over as Bickley posted a disappointing 76 in which only Pearce, Alex Coulson and Francis reached double figures. View Scorecard

Saturday 2nd XI - Won by 12 runs at home to Whitstable

BPCC 242 - 7 (50 overs) (D. Murphy 66, M. Macionis 75)
Whitstable CC 230 all out (48 overs) (D. Lillie 5-50)

A baking hot day greeted the 2nd XI at the home of cricket. The club, suffering availability issues, gave Rob Hooper his full kent League debut and Sachin Patel his home debut.
We won the toss and batted. It wasn't looking good at 50-4, but Mazzy and Blue Moon (Murphy), both recorded their best ever knocks for the club, in Kent League cricket. A cameo from Browny saw the side
to a respectable total, on a flat track.

After tea, we were never in contention until the last 7 overs. That said, the part time bowling of Messers Moon & Macionis did help us through. At 160-2 Whtistable were coasting (no pun intended), and we were flat and out of it. A slowing run rate and an the odd wicket gave us a bit of belief, but it still left Whitstable requiring 40 runs of the last 8 overs, with 5 wickets in hand. Lilsey then did what his renowned for - and shot out the tail, culminating in a triple wicket maiden, and twenty points!

We can now relax about relegation and enjoy the last 3 games, and to finish in the top half......... View Scorecard

Saturday 3rd XI - Won by 8 wickets at home to Bexley Park

Bexley Park CC 1st XI 148 -8 (46 overs)
BPCC 149 - 2 (39.4 overs) (J. Patel 99*)

PETER'S PLUMS INSPIRE 3S TO 7th SUCCESSIVE VICTORY - HIP HIP HOOJAY!!!

The 3s' quite amazing recovery from early season hiccups continues apace with an emphatic win against a competitive Bexley Park side who I'm to report play the game in the right spirit.

Despite of course several changes to the previous week's line-up, we still took the field with a side combining the talents of youth and experience. Experience came in the form of one Dave Wilson who made a very welcome return to the fold after too long away painting and decorating. It was also terrific to have Atul in the XI, one of 3 Musketeers from the world-famous Winning Innings troop to play in this particular match!

The other 2 were Jay Patel, making his 2nd appearance for us this season, and Janil Ramesh, a debutant and a somewhat unknown quantity. More about these guys later....

After saying when we win the toss, we'll bat and bat and bat, it was of course inevitable that we'd lose the toss and be asked to field on what was a quite gloriously baking-hot afternoon.

Trying to emulate the previous week's miserly opening spell this time were Mad Dave Farley and even Madder Big Ash. Both did themselves proud as they bowled beautifully in very testing conditions to put the away side under the cosh from the very first ball. Charlie Farley in particular bowled with real heat and was most unlucky to come away with just a single wicket to his name after putting in his most impressive spell for quite some time. Big Ash meanwhile snared a couple of good 'uns as his bowling goes from strength to strength. One of his victims came courtesy of a quite stunning and some might say unbelievable one-handed catch from the quiet man of the side, Mr Karl Acharya. Karl's celebrations were terrific and put Monty to shame.

Once I'd bowled our openers into the ground in the searing heat, I then asked Matt Russell and debutant Janil to have a go. Again, both were spot-on and yielded precious few runs at a key stage of the match. Matt's first spell for us this year was a great effort, while Janil showed huge promise as he kept the runs down at the other end - each snagging a wicket as reward for their efforts.

Once they were knackered, it was left to Vinno and the kipper to put the brakes on and give our quicks a breather! Together Vinno and myself grabbed 3 vital wickets for not so many runs. OK Lippy Student, well done - the 3 were all yours but that's irrelevant!

I must say in amongst the usual filth he serves up, this was Vinno's most impressive spell for quite some time and it was almost a joy to watch! Seriously though mate, a terrific effort and keep up the good work!

The innings ended on 148 (a couple short of the target some had forecast!) thanks to some terrific bowling backed by athletic fielding, exemplified by Ashley's brilliant catch over his shoulder off his mate's bowling.

Tea at UCH was quite superb. Not a statement you'd usually hear from me admittedly but the usual regulation fare was supplemented by some fresh fruit provided by wifey. The piece de resistance however was the fresh crop of plums supplied by Peter (Gariff) our much-admired and faultless umpire, who this week looked quite resplendent in his persil-white coat and immaculate new syrup. ?

Suitably refreshed, we set about the smallish target in great heart. This week's opening partnership was Ash and Matt Russell (aka the Bash Brothers). While we know what to expect from Ash - 3 fours in his 12 tells the tale - Matt looked the real deal as he played with due care and attention until a brilliant on-drive led to his downfall! Turning for 3, Matt was unluckily run out by a foot or so as their 11th man, wearing black trainers and a crisp white shirt from C&A, threw the stumps down from just inside the boundary. What are the chances of that?

Ashley then played another one of his loose shots when set for many more and at 22-2 it was anyone's match. We weren't however to reckon on the unknown ability of 2 of the 3 "Musketeers" to put together a stand of 127 to win the game for us at a canter.

While Janil played the anchor role quite superbly to register a valuable undefeated 29 in his first outing for the club (well done mate, and thanks!), Jay was simply awesome. In his first outing a month or so back, Jay didn't quite make the impression I for one had hoped, including dropping a sitter off the skipper's bowling the silly boy. His second appearance however was far more to the team's liking.

Once he got his eye in, Jay's clean hitting was a joy to behold and was surely one of the finest innings UCH has seen for a long time. It was also one of the most flagrant examples of jug-avoidance seen at the venue as he decided to end just 1 short of what would have been a truly magnificent century! Well done to you Jay, a fantastic performance and deserving of your Parag-supplied MOM award when our paths next meet.

A quite brilliant day for the 3s whose 7th consecutive win lifts us to a much healthier position in the league with 4 games left. Keep it going lads, it feels great! View Scorecard

Saturday 4th XI - Lost by 4 wickets at home to HSBC

BPCC 152 - all out (45 overs) (A. Gariff 34)
HSBC 4th XI 153 - 6 (43.5 overs)

Availability issues put paid to league title push

The debacle that marked the end of any realistic title challenge was it would be fair to say, easier to see coming than Ron Jeremy (ladies and older readers may substitute "a large Lorry" for Ron Jeremy).

A careful trawl through match reports this season would reveal not one week where late replacement players were not required late Friday or early Saturday morning. The fact that this has been the rule rather than the exception is something which needs to be addressed. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the majority of other clubs we face week in week out are able to field lower teams with little or no disruption to intial selections.
Perhaps selecting players who are definitely available might be a good start. Back at the ranch however, the search was on for not one, not two but three players mid way through Friday. This is hardly a record, we have had to find 4 on Saturday morning more than once. The casual attitude higher up the club which leads to these attitudes has cost the 4th XI promotion from the feeder league to the Kent league proper two years in a row. rior to this weekend gone, the 4th XI were the only team in the club with a realistic chance at topping their league and gaining promotion.
You'd have though a little more support might have been warranted. And so I say to all those responsible, and you know who you are, sod you, sod your mother, sod your fathers maiden aunt and sod the horse you all rode in on.

Our last game at the Kent County Ground could, the more perceptive of you will by now have realised, gone slightly better. We took the covers off the newly prepared track to see more than a hint of green and a wee bit of damp. Nothing an hour of sunshine and fresh air wouldn't cure or so we thought. HSBC, 3rd from bottom in the league ought not pose too many problems in the bowling department, so of course we batted. Little did we know, HSBC so close to the relegation zone had drafted in a 2nd XI player, back from a couple of weeks holiday to help bolster the side in its hour of need.
Forward thinking selection policy that, as his late in swing soon reduced us to 6-19, a couple of fair (if overly generous) lbw decisions by Baz not helping things. God only knows who would have appeared in the HSBC side if they had been pushing for the league title (note the well hidden irony and the faintest hint of sarcasm).

To recover from 6-19 to 152 all out using up all but one of our allotted overs speaks volumes for the character of the side. Optimistic thoughts were aired about the psychological impact the recovery must have had on the opposition, but in my heart of hearts I knew we were at the very least 30 runs short.

In reply we bowled and fielded our socks off, and got the run rate required up over five an over by the half way mark. This despite losing Dringy to a finger injury in the first over of our reply, and having no option but to use up one of the opening bowlers as keeper substitute. (Only two byes, awesome effort Tom.!) Too few wickets had been gained though, and the arrival of the HSBC 2nd XI man to the crease at no 6 coinciding with a lack of bowling options led to a brisk 50 not out from said cricketing hero which saw the opposition home with a couple of overs to spare. One more bowler would just about have done it.

In fact the only thing about the whole sorry episode worth reporting on at length would be the tea. Those of you who usually skip that part can finish reading now, you humourless bunch of numptys I bet you are all lawyers and accountants. Maybe local government employees. Go on, sod off.

The perfect cricketing tea is of course a thing of myth and legend. There are many complex and exacting criteria which need to be met. There needs to be a tea lady. Said tea lady should be nether too young nor too old. She should neither too attractive nor too plain, as either would serve to distract the chaps from the task at hand. Obviously the bar should be open. There should be a good variety of hot and cold offerings, savoury and sweet, and the savoury must of course be accompanied by sauces. The tea itself should be builder like in strength, and there should also be orange (not too strong) and cold water. Fruit should be available, but not too obvious.
Finally, if other sides are present, yours and your opposition should clearly be given preferential treatment

If I were to say to you that every single one of these criteria were met and exceeded, I know you wouldn't believe me. Well, my friends we were there. Fleur (not too old or too young) attractive but not drop dead gorgeous (sorry Fleur) exceeded herself. She has maintained a high standard all year to be fair, with solid 8s and 9s, but this was something just a little bit special. The cakes were many and varied and mostly home-made. The rolls were fresh and the fillings varied and good quality - some Pate in deference to last weeks criticism, but nothing overly fancy. Hot sausages, sausage rolls, samosa's and just when we thought it had all come to an end, a bowl or two of jersey royals. Absolutely marvellous. Fleur we salute you.

Thanks to the lads for salvaging more than a little pride from what could have been a spectacular debacle. Thanks to Baz for standing, thanks to Chloe, Trance, Tom Scorgie and Naana for stepping in at the last minute. Yes, I am quite possibly the worst loser in the entire world. I am very bitter, very grumpy, and I've delayed writing this until Wednesday. View Scorecard

Sunday 1st XI - No Match

Sunday 2nd XI - Drew with Ex Blues in a friendly

BPCC 189 - 6 dec
Ex Blues 120 - 4

A typical mix of experience and youth saw Sachin Patel captain the side against a generally more senior Ex Blues side. With an exception of three brief showers and one ten minute break for rain, the game was played in high spirit and even some sunshine! Sachin started well - and won the toss and elected to bat, allowing David Voisey to build an innings of great composure and no little class while ably assisted along the way by John Huntley (42 runs (not his age!)) amongst others. Against a straight but moderately paced attack, the batsmen played solid cricket strokes as the total accumulated. Even the short break for rain didn't stop the steady progression to a total of 189 at tea. David fell mistiming a pull for 79, the mainstay of the innings.

After a well proportioned tea, Bickley opened up with Jack Horner down the hill (poor jack doesn't get the chance to come down the hill very often) and Tom Scorgie up the hill. Jack made the initial breakthrough, but Tom, not to be outdone also struck early on. The bowlers rotated as Sachin searched for further breakthoughs, but it was clear that the left handed opener would be the main stumbling block of our road to victory, and so it proved. A good partnership developed and by the time we finally got the breakthrough the game was heading to a certain draw. Good bowling efforts from Vas, Tom and Sackin himself backed up by Jack and brother David Horner - over from Italy for his single outing at the home of cricket for the year. The less said about Liam's batting, bowling and catching... the better!