Bickley Park CC – 3rd XI vs Orpington CC – 3rd XI

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Bickley Park CC – 3rd XI Vs Orpington CC – 3rd XI

Most cricketers across all levels of cricket village, club, first class and international will have a story to tell from their hottest experience and this was probably one of those days Half way through the season it was time for the return fixture between Bickley 3rd XI CC and Orpington CC after the 1st leg was abandoned due to rain which seems now like a long time ago. Bickley 3rd XI returned back to the home ground of Warren to find a barren outfield waiting without any sign of green on probably the hottest day of the year and the outfield was hard as concrete and super fast. Strangely Bickley managed to get a full 11 this time with team manager Simon Mcquiggan’s dedicated effort and co-ordination with the skipper, so a close competition was anticipated.

Bickley skipper won the toss and elected to bat which seemed like a crucial toss to win. In-form Simon Davis was promoted to open the batting along with new opener Vishesh Mantri who on his debut gave a flying start to Bickley cruising to 63 in just 7 overs. Vishesh fell victim to Bradford delivery to be caught at mid-off scoring a quick 36 definitely filling up the space for an ideal opener for the remaining season. With Bickley’s reliable middle-order batsman Samit and Thanga yet to bat things looked good but to Bickley’s misfortune both went cheaply back-to-back to tempting bowling of Markell and Van Dan Burgh respectively. Simon Davis fell to Markell scoring a brilliant 35 and Bickley were left at 90/4 although the run rate was above 7 an over at that point. Mark Hardy along with Sunny tried to steady the ship and when things were looking to get better Sunny fell victim to aggressive Fortheringham’s pace which was probably the only good delivery throughout his whole spell with skipper scoring 21 and Mark Hardy 23 taking us to 149, Mark Hardy looked solid and back in form. Bickley’s tail added some valuable runs with young all-rounder Will Harrods’ debut contribution and Jeremy Frost to take it to 172 losing all wickets in 35 overs. Looks like we prefer to play 35 overs rather than 40 these days!

Bickley took to the field knowing that it fell some 60 runs short on a fast-paced outfield. Simon and Sunny opened the bowling attack however their opener M. Reade and C. Brooke batted intelligently and safely and kept the board ticking over. Bickley with some bowlers available this week finally had the option to bring in quick change Anuj Tomar and Vishesh Mantri, however young wicket-keeper Zayaan Sheriff from USA struggled to adjust to the bowlers line and length and gradually adapted. The first breakthrough came from Anuj Tomar getting M.Reade and then a quick wicket from Sunny and two from Vishesh supported by good line and length bowling from Zoe Hainsworth gave some hope for a comeback but Orpington batted sensibly against all bowlers and managed to score the winning runs in 30 overs.

It was disappointing to lose the match which started off well however many positives can be taken along with debuts of some upcoming talent. The remaining matches of the season will be crucial to keep clear of relegation and next week Bickley will be travelling down to Dulwich in hunt of a crucial win.

Bickley Park CC – 172/10
Simon Davis 35, Vishesh Mantri 36
Bradford 20/3

Orpington CC – 174/4
Vishesh Mantri 24/2