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Bowlers Dominate Battle of Bickley An impressive burst of hostility on a bouncy home track was not sufficient to garner the points in Bickley’s attempt at avenging the opening day defeat by Blackheath. The fired up new ball duo of Cross and Horner were always threatening as they bowled with an aggression reflected in the intensity of the fielding. Blackheath’s upper order could not cope with the pressured environment awaiting them at the crease, and first Horner (2 wickets) and then Cross (3 wickets) made early progress as attacking fields paid dividends. The damage done, Cross was put out to graze after a daunting 11 over burst and Ramsey (having finally managed to remove the ball from the grasp of his fiery medium pacer) completed the rout, returning a first team PB of 5-11 (including 4 no balls) as Blackheath folded for 104. This was our best cricket of the season…hostile bowling, confident clinical catching – marvellous. Pride however cometh before a fall, and Blackheath were in no mood to relinquish the points. Our batting failed to fire, and good bowling and fielding combined with one or two injudicious strokes left us in trouble at 30-6. Francis, Clinton and Cross went some way to repairing the damage, but the task was too great and we eventually submitted on 72 all out. In the second team basement dual, Sevenoaks Vine made the early running scoring 240 in the first innings, with Lillie and Cullum the pick of the bowlers. Bickley were in early trouble losing 4 wickets quite quickly before the ship was steadied. We had eased to 90-4 before the weather spoiled a potentially tight game. The three’s 9 men (its quality not quantity that counts!) held Hartley to a meagre 175-9 and were making comfortable progress on 48-1 before the rain intervened. Tom Cole (4-31) stared with the ever reliable Hague (2-39) as his foil. Ing and Payne were settling themselves in nicely before the weather ruined all the fun. Another impressive victory for the ever-improving fours moved us further away from the messy end of the table. A much depleted Colfs side performed with credit with 7 men (how many sides would simply not have turned up) before succumbing for 88 all out, Hewitt and the Sultana doing the damage with 3-26 and 2-22 respectively. Bob Wilson (46*) and the Jensonian (38) smashed their way to an early finish – job done. No play Sunday as the world was too wet!
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