After losing the toss (again) and being inserted into bat (again), last weekend’s depleted Shoreham 1st team sent Sree and James out to kick off their innings. Facing some swift bowling on a lively track our openers did well to put on 25 and 41 respectively, before both being caught out. Krishna was next in to bat, and he hit a quick fire 26, despite having worked all night long and being due to work the forthcoming night as well. Respect. Nick Walker Jnr blasted 37 before also being caught. After a steady start we had just begun to hit freely, but Ightham kept on taking wickets to halt our momentum. Sam could only reach 9, before being replaced by the in-form Montie, who played some outrageous shots to end on 27no. Martin made a quick 15 alongside him, before making way for a cameo by Ed at the end, who scored 5no from his 3 balls. Shoreham wrapped up their innings with 217 for 6 – a better score than we had hoped for at one point.

Ightham’s batsmen signalled their intent from the word go, dispatching all of Ed’s bad balls to the boundary (the cheek!), as well as a few of James’s. Bob got the breakthrough wicket with a catch from James, and he returned the favour later on by taking a catch off James’s bowling. Ightham continued to score more regularly than Jasplin in Wetherspoons, however, and always looked on top of the run rate. James, bowling at a reduced pace thanks to an injury, still managed to get himself another couple of wickets though, thanks to some solid handy-work from Martin behind the stumps. Martin got his third catch of the game, with one off Sam’s bowling, but the runs kept on coming for the home side. Krishna pulled up with an injury half way through his spell, and had to be replaced by young Harry Stacey – who joined his elder brother, George, and his Dad to make it a trio of Staceys for Shoreham. Unfortunately Ightham didn’t let up, and got the runs with about 3 overs to spare and 5 wickets in hand.

A pleasant pint in their pub was followed by a dash for more familiar surroundings, and an evening of diluted commiseration alongside the 2nd team followed in the George.

Ed

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After losing the toss again, Shoreham were inserted into bat on a damp, blustery wicket. If our first league game of the season was anything to go by, the nine Shoreham players who were sheltering from the wind in the pavilion were destined for an afternoon of watching the ‘chosen two’ hit the runs. Everything was looking good as Sree hit his first ball for four. But then – shock! Sree was caught on 14, which brought Andy Glass to the crease in his first game for the 1sts. Unfortunately Andy didn’t last too long either, being caught on 8 – although this did include a six. Mark Doughty then had the pain of being run out for 2, and The Edge was outmaneuvered whilst only on 8.

With four wickets down, it was Krishna who strode out to meet our surviving opener, Andy Monteith, at the wicket. These two had a vital partnership, with Krishna accelerating the scoring and taking the pressure off anchorman Andy. Both started to take advantage of the improving conditions with sixes and fours aplenty – adding to the anxiety of all those who had parked their vehicles around the vulnerable parts of the boundary (which was every part).

The lower order were just getting comfortable again, and had begun re-entertaining the idea of sauntering off to the pub across the road, when Krishna was caught going for another big one. He departed on a triumphant 64 (only 10 of which weren’t boundaries). James Trick was our next batsmen to go in, after his brother, who was above him in the order, had an incident with his trousers that left him incapable of being seen in public, let alone batting. James carried on where Krishna left off, and ended on 27no. Andy batted out the whole innings, but couldn’t quite reach his 100, finishing on 98no – a splendid effort.

Chasing 241, Southborough got off to a good start, tucking into some juicy deliveries from Ed ‘I stayed up too late’ Walker (7-41-0). James Trick (9-37-3) bowled well at the other end, however, and Krishna (9-24-0) had a very tidy spell indeed. Jack Rivett (4-25-1) got the first wicket with a catch from Sam. And John Dinnis (8-48-3) helped stop Southborough’s top order in their stride. They were still amassing runs though, and it took solid catching from The Edge and quick fielding all round to keep Shoreham on top.

Southborough ended their innings on 206 for 8 – 36 runs short.

Thanks to Pat for umpiring.

- Ed

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Horsmonden: 78 all out
Shoreham: won by 10 wickets

There be the facts, plain and simple. Andy (47*) and Sree (29*) knocked off Horsmonden’s low total with ease, and we all went down the pub. The end.

Ed

P.S. I should also add that: James Asplin fielded like a pro all game; John Dinnis got a wicket with his first ball; Ed, James and Krishna all bowled very tightly indeed; and the Trick tea was exceptional – despite the lack of little quiches, which has been noted…

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Win this game, win the League. That was our mission upon arriving at Kemsing’s ground. The weather was bright and humid as Shoreham’s elite took to the field, and Ed Walker and John Dinnis were given the responsibility of getting our attack under way. Nick Walker Jr was delayed, however, due to a perilous detour through Croydon on his way to the game, so Shoreham were a man down for the first 10 overs. Ironically these turned out to be our best 10 overs, as Ed (9-27-0) and John (7-29-0) kept the runs down, although neither could force that vital early wicket.

Peter Wright then took over where John left off, bowling all of his 9 overs for only 31 runs. A good first 20 from Shoreham had Kemsing only on 65 (if my memory serves me correctly), however their two openers, Wood and Shipton, had not been dislodged, and were starting to open up.

Bob Stacey (5-39-1) finally got the breakthrough, getting Wood (60) and leaving Kemsing on 106-1. The collapse Shoreham were working for never came though, as Shipton (80) accelerated the run rate. James Trick (9-47-2) earned his two wickets when Kemsing’s top order were in full flow, although Sandy Clark (1-13-0) was not shown any mercy. After 40 overs, Kemsing finished on 195 for the loss of only 3 wickets. A disappointing afternoon for Shoreham’s bowlers who toiled away in the heat, but a strong total for Kemsing’s batsmen who gave away very few chances and batted steadily throughout.

Faced with our largest total to chase since our third game of the season (against Halstead back in May), Shoreham’s batsmen looked a little out of sorts; with the wickets of Nick Walker Jr (3), Peter Wright (2), and Andy Monteith (5) all going cheaply, leaving us on 27-3. Having dug themselves out of similar holes on occasions throughout this season, however, Shoreham’s lower order were not perturbed by their task. Shoreham’s surviving opener, Sree Kokkiligadda, battled through to hit an invaluable 57, and share an 80 run partnership with Sam Trick (33) to drag us right back into the game.

Unfortunately, Sam departed with our score up to 107-4, and Sree fell soon after. Then Mark McDonald (1) failed to make the impact we were hoping for, leaving the visitors staring defeat in the face on 115-6. James Trick (38) came to the rescue, sharing a 68 run partnership with John Dinnis (31no) before being bowled with only a couple of overs to go. We were trailing by about a dozen runs coming into those final two overs. But the day didn’t get any better for Sandy Clark though, as he was dismissed the ball after James. This brought our no.10, Ed Walker, out to join his fellow opening bowler, John, in the middle. Ed scrambled 4 runs, and John added a few more to his tally, to bring us within 9 runs of victory with 6 balls to go (or at least I think it was that – I don’t have the scorebook and got too drunk afterwards to remember the following moments with any clarity anyway). John walloped his first ball for four. 5 runs from 5 balls then. He smashed his next ball just as hard, but was stopped by a brave piece of fielding at mid-off. The next two balls then passed with John trying to emulate his previous strokes, but to no avail. A bustled single from the penultimate ball brought Shoreham within a boundary of victory and the cool-headed Ed to the strike…

Well, you can’t say I didn’t try to hit the ball really hard out of the ground. The fact that I missed it completely and was bowled meant that Shoreham’s winning run finally came to an end. And it may have cost us 1st place in the League, with only one game of the season remaining – against 2nd placed Weald.

A few glum faces afterwards were apparent, but John and Ed, who had started and ended the game for Shoreham, did make the brief trip back to the George to celebrate the Club’s first double-loss on a Saturday in 2008 with the cream of the 2nd team, and some ace Irish music, long into the night.

- Ed

P.S. We found out on Sunday that we had actually won the League the day before despite losing to Kemsing, because Weald hadn’t picked up enough points in their victory over Speldhurst. How pleasantly ironic?!

KCVL Division 3 League Table
30th August 2008 (One game to go)

Bidborough won the toss and elected to bat on one of Shoreham’s trademark wickets which, after a summer of perpetual rain, had little to amuse the bowlers with. The now familiar opening barrage of Ed Walker (1-26-9) and John Dinnis (1-23-8) kept Bidborough under wraps, and Ed took Shoreham’s first wicket with a very tidy and untheatrical caught-and-bowled. The introduction of James Trick (1-16-9) soon brought about our second wicket, with a solid catch from Peter Wright. Bidborough were only on 54 after the first 20 overs, having lost their two openers just as they were getting going.

Shoreham continued to bowl tightly into the second half of Bidborough’s innings: Peter Wright (0-14-5) bowled economically for no reward; Ray Trick (1-28-6) took the wicket of Bidborough’s no.3; and Bob Stacey, fresh from his holiday, also picked up a wicket to end with 1 for 13 from his 3 overs. Pete took the catch off Bob’s bowling, and James caught one off John’s to round off a professional effort in the field by all concerned, inspired by the presence of The Duracell Bunny himself. Although, thinking back, I do recall a certain Mr Sree performing one of his long barriers for us… but it wasn’t enough to earn him the RTFA in the eyes of this reporter, who has the upmost sympathy for all things fielding. Also, there’ll be no JABA this week for similar reasons.

Bidborough reached 131 from their 40 overs for the loss of 5 wickets, with 20 of their runs coming from extras. Although this is by no means a reflection on stand-in wicket keeper Nick Walker Jr, who did a sterling job behind the stumps chasing mine and John’s wide deliveries – all with a bruised hand from use of excessive force when changing gear in his rush to the ground!

After tea, Nick Walker Jr and Sree Kokkiligadda strode out to bat, as Ray made for the showers – in an act of extreme confidence in our upper order. Sree immediately took the attack to Bidborough with some early boundaries, before Nick fell on 2 with the score on 18. Pete Wright took his place but, after a quick 9 runs, was caught to leave Shoreham stuttering on 31-2.

Was Ray getting anxious about changing back into his whites? Was he hell. Ray looked on comfortably as his youngest bashed another six into the surrounding trees. Sam and Sree had a strong partnership to bring us up to 99, when Sree was neatly stumped on 36. This brought James Trick into the fray, and he and his brother carried on to get Shoreham within reach of an early finish, and, most importantly, more time down the pub. James hit 25no, and Sam secured our only jug of the day, getting 55no with 8 fours and 2 sixes. Shoreham emerged victorious in 20.4 overs for the loss of only 3 wickets, with half the team not getting a bat again. Oh well, that’s probably best considering my performance the next day…

I’d like to thank the support shown by many of our 2nd team players who popped by the ground or who met up with us at the pub afterwards. Thankyou Martin as well for umpiring the majority of the game, even though you didn’t accept any of our LBW appeals.

- Ed

Soon after we arrived at Speldhurst it started to rain. Then we lost the toss and were put into bat. Then we found out that Pete had used up the last of the bog roll, and a few members of the team started to look a little anxious.

Nick Walker Jr and Sree Kokkiligadda opened for Shoreham, and scored steadily against the new ball. Sree was eventually caught on 23, which brought the fresh-faced Peter Wright into the game. Pete and Nick had just begun to accelerate when Nick was caught on 31. Pete got the only half-century (with the bat) for Shoreham, reaching 57 before being deceived by a ball which kept low – although this doesn’t excuse your shot selection Pete!

We needed a strong finish if we were to post a decent total, so there was pressure on our next man in to force some runs. Unfortunately, Phil Edge’s batting looked a little tipsy, and was bowled before he could unleash the beast. Andy Monteith and James Trick then had a good partnership to get us to around the 200 mark. And after James was caught on 36 (ruining his average), a fired up Mark McDonald, egged on by his admirers, bashed a quick-fire 13no to compliment Andy’s 28no, and elevate our inning’s total to 226 for 5 (including 32 extras).

The weather was starting to dry up in time for the home side’s innings after tea. Ed Walker opened the bowling for Shoreham, and produced two ‘entertaining’ overs, before being removed from the action to reflect on his performance (and finish digesting his tea) at fine-leg. At this point I would like to add that the ball itself was in dire condition after the rain from earlier on – although this didn’t seem to hold back James Trick (9-31-3), who picked up the vital wickets of Speldhurst’s top three batsmen, bringing Shoreham right back into the game. Pete Wright (9-33-0) did a good job with the ball for no reward, before Ed was given a chance to redeem himself – and ended with figures of 9 overs for 50 runs and 2 wickets. Ed’s half-century (off his own bowling) should have secured him this week’s JABA, but I’ve just noticed that Mr Sree went for 26 from his 3 overs, so I’m not sure who deserves it the most now…

Renton (37), Roche (34) and Booth (35) all fell just as they were getting going, which meant that Speldhurst were always chasing the game. Three catches from James, two from Mark, and one from Phil made the difference for Shoreham, as did some exemplary fielding from the sprightly Nick Walker. John Dinnis (the wise farmer) bowled aggressively, shattering Spelhurst’s lower order, ending with 4 wickets from his 7.2 overs for 28. And Sandy Clark’s two overs at the end were enough for him to pick up a wicket for only 9 runs. Speldhurst were all out for 181 in the last over of the game, leaving Shoreham victorious for their 13th game in a row.

After a beer with the opposition, the majority of the team met up with the 2nds in The Geroge, before an elite squad of youthful players (and Mark McDonald) embarked upon an evening of heaviness in Sevenoaks. Now I won’t go into any details, but here are some words that should paint a picture of the night for you: wolves, tequila, antibiotics, vodka, pitchers, mouthwash, head-butts, broken hearts, pebble-dashed, Batman.

- Ed