NatWest CC, Kent – 1st XI vs Bickley Park CC – 3rd XI

Report

In Sunny’s absence, Simon Davis led the 3rd XI into an away fixture at our own home ground! 

The newly formed Natwest Blues comprises players from Natwest Bank CC and Ex-Blues CC, and so this was a step into the unknown for all involved.

Simon lost the toss and we were asked to bat  (in spite of somewhat confusing arm waving from the Skip sending us all to the dressing room to prepare to field)

Things didn’t start well as wickets fell regularly, although runs were also racking up. With openers Vishesh and Marcus back in the hutch, last week’s batting rock, Tom, crumbled at the sight of something short and juicy and we were three down and looking over the edge.

Samit and Marco began the rebuild – or in Marco’s case just plundered anything short or wide to get us back on track with an invaluable 23. When he departed Captain Davis settled in and after a short period of defence also started to find the middle. Having steadied the ship, Samit was caught at the wicket and made way for Chris Eaton to forge a valuable partnership with Simon.  They got us over 120 and the final few overs saw wickets fall as we edged (quite literally in some cases) to 147 – 9 of the allotted 36 overs. 

The second innings saw the new ball taken by Vishesh and Simon, and the skipper again produced a spell that the batsmen simply couldn’t edge. Vishesh also bowled without any luck until finally getting the breakthrough, courtesy of a catch by Chewitt, towards the end of his 9 over spell.  Chewitt himself then replaced Simon at what could soon become know as the “Welsh End” and found turn and bounce – occasionally at the same time, causing problems for batsmen and keeper Marcus, alike.

Jack took over from Vishish, as the number 3 holed out to long-on off Chewitt, but as the batsmen began to open their shoulders, runs flowed. Natwest Blues had seemed to be struggling to keep up with the run-rate, but it looked like they had timed their chase to perfection.

The breakthrough came as Simon held onto a catch at extra cover off Jack, to send back the opener for 42, leaving the settled number 4 (Nabil Butt) with a lot to do on his own.  Simon returned and finally claimed wickets as he first trapped the new batsmen in front and then sent another back thanks to a well judge catch from Marcus.

Needing 14 from the final two overs, Jack conceded only one and more importantly left the dangerous Butt off strike for the final over.  An inside edge brought 4 runs from the first ball, but Simon recovered to halt the Natwest Blues’ charge.   

With one scorer (our thanks to the Natwest Blues man for a sterling job) and no umpires between us, the game was played in a great spirit, hard and fair and several beers were downed after the game in the bar. 

That’s 2 from 2 and a home game vs Belvedere beckons. Bring it on!