2 Wins and a loss for the club on a scorching weekend.
The first team tasted defeat for the first time this season amongst trying circumstances and very hot conditions. Stand in Captain Karl Rummery unfortunately lost the toss which meant the boys had to field first in conditions not dissimilar to those of the Sahara. Bilal Omar was his usual tight and accurate self finishing with 1-28 from his 8 overs, a few stands developed but it looked like Meopham would be kept to a reasonable total until a late partnership between 9 and 11 added a vital 50 runs and set a challenging chase of 218. Gus Freeman managed to bad 4 wickets amongst the carnage, which included a dislocated shoulder and Angus deciding that he needed to leave due to his girlfriend going into labour, priorities!
A slow start to the Sissinghurst innings changed to a solid base when Fred Smith’s 30 ball vigil came to an end, bring together the Brother’s Freeman. Will played an excellent innings of 83 and was ably supported along the way by Gus 23, and Jack Greig back in the runs with 27. However time and balls were running out and stand in captain Karl (29*) managed some huge blows but couldn’t quite get us over the line. It was a good effort from the lads in very difficult circumstances and some great performances mixed in, Onwards!
The second team welcomed Bearstead to the King George Field with the home team looking to defend their unbeaten record. People were worried about the coin flip but captain Michael Winner simply said “calm down dear, it’s just a coin toss”. On winning it it was a simple decision to bat first on a road of a track and a lightning outfield. Bearstead tasted early success with the wicket of Richard Staines. However this merely brought on their impending doom! Joining the obdurate run machine Andrew Knowler at the crease was Tom Elliott and after threatening so much the week before it was the poor Bearstead bowlers who suffered his wrath! A huge partnership developed and was only broken when AK was dismissed for a fine 79 added to his runs from last week, being a grandparent seems to be working for him. This did not disturb the Elliott freight train as he continued on to a remarkable, epoch defining 117 not out. With cameos from Tom Dyas And the aforementioned skipper the innings closed on 243 for 3 after the 40 overs.
A total this size was always going to be hard to chase even on such a good track. Patience was the key for the Sissinghurst bowlers and they saw good batting from the first three batsmen seeing scores of 40, 35 and 57. However they stuck at their task and managed to reel them back in with wickets starting to fall on a regular basis with Henry Elliott removing both openers. This allowed the skipper to work through all his bowlers, using nine in total. Henry Parton impressed hugely with the ball having had to sit in his pads most of the afternoon and ripped out the middle order with 3/26. Some lusty blows from the number 9 got them up to 228 but a good team performance saw maximum points for the seconds who are now, whisper it, joint top of the league.
Sunday saw a hastily arranged local friendly, thanks to the powers of Facebook fixtures, against Staplehurst. Staplehurst brought a young side and on winning the toss Pete Smith invited them to bat first. An innings of 177 was underlined by Staplehurst 1st teamer George Perry with a heavyweight knock of 70. Wickets fell regularly at the other end with 3 for Nick Knowles, sorry I mean Tony Reader, and 2 for youngster Ed May. Eight bowlers were used in an excellent advert for Sunday cricket. The chase was guided by an excellent knock of 83 by Percy Christopherson against his old team. He was supported at first by Micky Winner who smashed 33 almost exclusively in boundaries. Wickets fell consistently but at the end the experience of Chairman and leader Pete Smith saw us over the line to win by 2 wickets, a fantastic day all round