With rain falling all over Kent the righteous cricketers of Sissinghurst were spared any heavy downpours and much to the oppositions surprise we managed to complete both of our fixtures.
The first team welcomed Eynsford to the King George Field, a team that we had not faced off against for some time. The oppo skipper arriving late won the toss and opted to take first knock on what looked like a good deck lovingly prepared by our enigmatic groundsman (please see instagram to view some of the most remarkable curtain fixing). It was the skipper himself who took the attack to us early pouncing on anything short to strike some early boundaries until Karl slipped one through his defences and knocking back his off pole. Arthur Elliott replaced Bilal from the far end and bowled his 6 overs very nicely making it hard for the batsman to get the ball away. After an excellent 6 over spell Karl was replaced by the skipper himself who somehow sneaked a wicket before getting himself off before he could go for too many runs. this change saw Peter “jackanory” Masters come into the attack for the first time this season, and it was like he was never away as opposition batsman were baffled by the lack of any spin imparted on the ball as he bowled out finishing with 3-24. Tom Elliott bounced out a couple and then a great moment happened as Tom Dyas bounced back after being hit for a couple of boundaries to take his maiden first team wicket with a genuine edge through to the keeper. All in all keeping them down to 152 on a good deck seemed like a good effort.
Karl and Fred got us off to a solid start against some tight seam bowling to start but everything crumbled to dust when Eynsford removed pace from teh ball as our top order fell over themselves to surrender their wickets with lofted shots gone wrong. Percy Christopherson managed to survive this madness and when the skipper joined him some clam broke out. However this didn’t last long as the captain decided to toe a half tracker straight down the throat of the one boundary fielder on the leg side, what a clown. When Christopherson fell to an outstanding catch, the situation seemed desperate and despite a few heavy blows from Jamie Rix the wickets kept falling and the runs didn’t come as we were all out for 112. A poor effort with the bat should not detract from some excellent work with the ball and in the field but lessons must be learned on taking responsibility and seeing the team home.
Micky Winner took an “experienced” second team on the short trip to Horsmonden and on winning the toss invited the home side to bat first amongst the gloom, with the game reduced to 30 overs. Horsmonden got off to a quick start and we struggled to drag them back amid some excellent running between the wicket s and a strong knock from Cunningham who scored a fine undefeated century. Only two wickets fell throughout the innings and whilst the bowlers stuck to their task well the bowling lacked penetration and a total of 195 was going to be hard to haul in from just 30 overs available.
Wickets fell early and consistently as Horsmonden continued to tighten their stranglehold on the game and at 53-6 the chase looked hopeless. This however brought together Nick Hinves with the ever consistent AK and they managed to add some respectability to the scoreboard as they remained unbeaten squeaking the score up to 130 with Hinves 37* and AK 38*. The 100 % record of the seconds fell by the wayside and a few of the members of the team returned to their posts with the Home Guard in Walmington-on-Sea.