Still seeking their first win of the season, the Shoreham XI took on the might of Horton Kirby and after a rained off match against Otford last week, everyone was keen to get a good result out of the match.

After winning the toss and with a tedious inevitability, we were put in to the field on a sunny but windy day. Ed (8 – 0 – 44 – 1) and Joel (4 – 0 – 39 – 0) opened with no breakthrough until Joel was replaced with Jack and Ed bowled Hildebrand for 29 with a corker. The run rate accelerated a bit for the next couple of overs until Jack caught the edge of Bennett (55) which was taken by makeshift keeper Mazzon. The team suddenly had a new-found sense of confidence and took to field with new energy, determined to convert on this promising start. After this Andre (5 – 0 – 39 – 1) came on to replace Ed and caught Overden with a double-bouncing bouncer which trapped him LBW for only 8. The next breakthrough came with Shoreham’s new addition, Krish Therli, who had claimed not to have played cricket for over three years before bowling two of Horton Kirby’s middle order in his first pair of overs before their in-form batsmen Reynolds skied one to Dan James on 61. Krish ended with figures of (5 – 0 – 22 – 3) making him the pick of the Shoreham bowlers. Other contributions came from Dan Setterfield (5 – 0 – 23 – 1), Dan James (1 – 0 – 10 – 0) and Alex Haysler who took the advice of bowling better than his last spell (1 – 0 – 23 – 0) and have an economy of less than 23. He nearly managed to cut that in half this time with figures of (2 – 0 – 26 – 0), so a big improvement for him. In the end Horton Kirby hit exactly 200 runs off their 40 overs meaning Shoreham needed just over 5 runs an over to see their first victory of the season become a reality.

After a quality tea from Dan James, Jack acknowledged that Shoreham needed to make a quick start in order to make a dent in the 201 runs required so sent in the in-form Ed Walker with the more experienced Bob Sims. The customary Shoreham collapse happened a bit earlier than usual this week with the first six batsmen scoring 17 runs by the bat between them. This included Dan Setterfield who was certain to hit at least 70 runs looking at his form. Unfortunately it seemed that he had got his priorities a bit wrong when his wife phoned when he was on 3 to tell him that she was having a baby and he departed to a wave applause, leaving the team in even more difficulty.

Then came Dan James. It’s fair to say that Dan’s batting history at Shoreham cricket club does not make for the best reading with a top score of 18 and a single figure average last year. However after a net session where he realised that the harder he hit the ball, the further it went, he decided to put all past form behind him and launch an assault on the Horton Kirby attack with Krish. However, Alex Haysler seemed to have different ideas in this match after getting only 3 runs with the bat, decided that he would do all he could to make sure that he top-scored. So after giving Bob out stumped on 3, he decided to give Krish out LBW for a duck, a definite Sunday Taboo. Andre (2) followed suit quickly leaving a dire looking 62-8 and about 25 of those came from extras. This brought Captain Jack to the crease and with this, something that will go down in Shoreham legend.

Dan’s first boundary came with a deft flick off his pads, clearing square leg and running down the hill for four well-deserved runs. Jack started in a much similar fashion, hitting Costen for back-to-back straight fours at the start of his over and suddenly Horton Kirby had a sense of urgency about them, realising that they had to do something so they brought back on their openers (The same openers that tore through our top order). This change had no effect on the two batsmen who took to them happily and before anyone knew it, Jack had reached his first ever 50 with Dan not far behind. After this Jack decided that he had had enough of batting so got bowled by Watts on 51, leaving Dan stranded in the middle on 46 and bringing last man Joel to the crease. Unfortunately Joel was also a bit tired so got himself out for a duck, meaning that Dan was left on 47*, let down by a team that didn’t support him. Shoreham ended on 145, 56 runs short of the win but hey, when has that mattered?

Man of the match is Dan James for taking a catch, making a splendid tea, scoring a magnificent 47* and quadrupling his average for the season, and being a good sport and buying a jug for 50 avoidance.

Maz

The trophy match between Shoreham CC and The Jolly Rogers is played every yeah with the loser of the match receiving the much coveted ‘Dossers Cup’ in memory of Colin Boothroyd. However there was an unusual twist in the match this year where the opposition failed to find eleven cricketers worthy to take on the mighty Shoreham Sunday XI and pulled out on the Thursday before the match. Our Honorary Fixtures Secretary sprung into action to find us a replacement match at Wadhurst CC, a team we had never come across before.

The drive to the ground was a long one with constant rain all the way which didn’t change much when we finally arrived and much doubt was cast in whether the match would go ahead, especially after Joel told us of a nearby carvery that would serve a mean Sunday roast. But Shoreham cricketers are made of dedicated stuff and decided to stay to see the rain clear up for a slightly delayed start.

After losing the toss, Shoreham were sent into bat on a bouncy and variable wicket. Ray Trick (87) and  Paul Styles (34) made a steady start before picking the pace up with some lovely shots from both batsman. Just when all was going to plan Paul danced down the wicket to a ball from Wagner and but was deceived with the flight and stumped with a nifty bit of keeping. This brought Alex Mazzon to the crease with much expectation of thumping sixes and a guaranteed ton. However he couldn’t live up to his talk and after an agonisingly slow start, was bowled for 17, but not before seeing Ray hit his 50 and form a 50 partnership with the in-form Trick of the weekend. Cue the Shoreham collapse. After Ray departed, brief spells from Haysler (7), Heathcote (6), George Stacey (4 n.o), Walker (1), Rivett J (very brief) (Golden Duck) and Setterfield (1 n.o) followed bringing the visitors up to a respectable (171-7).

A delightful tea with ridiculously cheap Harveys (£2.50 a pint) followed before Shoreham left for the field with ever darkening skies above. Both openers bowled tightly but couldn’t find a breakthrough with both Ed (7-2-35-0) and Joel (8-0-29-0) coming very close on a number of occasions. The change came with both Rivett brothers (Jack 4-0-32-0 and George 3-0-18-0) taking the ball but once again no breakthrough could be found there. Jack resorted first to secret weapon Setterfield (6-0-23-0) who tried a new tactic of trying to kill / confuse the batsmen with the odd head high beamer before trying to knock out their middle stump with a devious faster ball. Then came the rain. Out of all other ideas the captain turned to out-of-form Alex Mazzon (Still recovering from injury) to bowl in the downpour. He (6-2-21-0) and Setterfield toiled away with more chances in 8 overs than you usually get in a whole match (Including four dropped catches, one missed stumping and a very close run out) but still the batsmen stood strong. With the scores level their batsmen Notley needed four runs for his century so the ever-gracious Dan Setterfield sportingly bowled a wide to win the game for Wadhurst and leave their batsmen on 96 runs.

The decision was then made that as we had been denied a carvery for lunch, we should get a curry for dinner. Half of the defeated Shoreham cohort then went to Ashique in Sevenoaks for what can only be described as a tour-worthy curry. Even though there was a long drive, torrential downpours and a loss, a good day was had by all and hopefully a regular fixture against a friendly and worthy side.

Mazz

A beautiful Easter Sunday greeted a youthful but strong Shoreham side in the age old derby against ACME. The temperature hit a mighty 27ºC, perfect fielding weather you might say? Captain Pat thought so and we were thrust out in the unrelenting sunshine, but with a twist: Both captains agreed that both sides would have to use 9 bowlers to make the match a bit more exciting.

Both opening bowlers toiled away with Sean Bromfield (9 – 2 – 41 – 0) and Ed Walker (8 – 1 – 50 – 1) coming close on a number of occasions but the openers stood strong through to the first change. Rivett J (4 – 0 – 13 – 0) and Haysler (1 – 0 – 21 – 0) continued the bowling attack but alas, no breakthrough could be found there, although they seemed to take a liking to Alex’s legspin and he was dispatched for an expensive 21 run over. The first wicket came finally when Lynch was decieved by a corker from players’ player Danny Setterfield (6 – 0 – 37 – 1) which went down a treat until from the huddle, Pat realised who the next batsman was. Fresh off a casual 160 the week before, Siva (75 n.o) took to the crease. The run rate picked up from there on until Shoreham released their secret weapon. Rivett G (4 – 2 – 7 – 2) dented the ACME plans a tad by first of all dismissing Marshall, but then proceeding to trap Williamson LBW for nothing less than a golden duck. The hat-trick ball was bowled with every fielder as close as they could get but unfortunately was defended expertly, leaving George with nothing less than a double wicket maiden. Siva very nearly fell by looping one to George on the boundary but it was not to be; he confessed to be sitting on the line as he made the catch and Siva was awarded another six. Brownie (1 – 0 – 11 – 0) and G. Stacey (1 – 0 – 14 – 0) also joined the party but couldn’t make a breakthrough in the strong batting line-up. The innings ended on 249 – 4 setting Shoreham a nice round 250 for the win.

After a wonderful ACME tea it was Shoreham’s turn to bat with Haysler (46) and Nick Walker (11). The Boakes Meadow Massive pair put on 34 before the first wicket fell when Siva was brought on to bowl and Nick was trapped LBW. This brought Bromfield to the crease for his first batting display of the season. He didn’t disappoint either with a tidy 42, unfazed by a few roaring appeals from ‘the Growler’ Prest, until he set off for a run that never was and was well fielded by Masterson S. Mazzon came in just in time to see Haysler lose his offstump to another Siva corker and a 62 run partnership for the High Street Massive then formed between Brownie (13) and Mazzon (31) (including a handy 6 and 18 extras). But it was not enough and the overs ran out with just 192 on the board. A special mention should go to Mr Extras who gave us a helping hand with an innings high 46 runs and George for throwing himself around in the field to try and slow the run rate. So the cricket was over for another week and the Sunday XI were back into the swing of things with a losing draw.

Mazz

The inevitability of the Sunday side fielding first was met by groans from Ed and Jackson in particular. However, for Shoreham’s last game of the season, the mood among their (mainly) youthful ranks was high – with Captain Pat urging his faithful to finish on a win.

E Walker (9-2-21-3) and A Mazzon (9-4-24-2) responded by bowling their 9 overs straight off and ripping through Shipbourne’s top order. Mazzon made the breakthrough after confounding the batsman with what I can only describe as the blistering variety of his repertoire. Wardo took a while to warm up (standard), and eventually joined the party with 3 wickets, including a double wicket maiden I might add, all thanks to a catch and a lightning fast stumping by Mr Chairman.

Every wicket was celebrated by the obligatory group hug/bundle, and Shoreham’s energy was apparent in their sprightly fielding efforts. Team cellist, Dan James, safely held a high catch off the bowling of Dan Setterfield (5-1-34-2) for Shoreham’s 6th wicket.

R Trick (5-1-29-0), A Haysler (3-0-17-1) and J Rivett (3.7-0-14-1) kept up the pressure on Shipbourne’s lower order, with Mazzon expertly catching Cork for 50 off one of Boozy’s more aerial attempts. Shoreham’s inspired performance with the ball left 10-man Shipbourne all out for 143. Everyone was glad to be welcomed back to the pavilion with the sight of Dan James lifting the foil off an extensive array of sandwiches and cakes. Oh, and a mountain of cool lagers…

M Wells and A Haysler took to the crease after tea, but Marty was soon trudging back for a duck after being caught playing a double bouncer which he had thought was a no-ball – but as most of the supporters were still finishing off their brownies no one could really verify this. S Trick made his presence known after only his first ball – dispatching it for 6. Sam continued in this vein, supported by Alex, before Boozy was bowled for 2 – although only after sharing a rather one-sided 52 run partnership with Sam. G Rivett then entered the game after a long walk to the crease, only to retrace his steps disconsolately one ball later. Replacing Norge to face the hat-trick ball was Ray the reliable Trick – who saw it off confidently. Then father and son rapidly developed a partnership based on boundaries and suspiciously little else. Sam stormed to his 50 with a four, and then, in case of scorer error, hit the next ball for 6 just to make sure.

Sam ended on 73 n.o. and Ray on 42 n.o. to win the match comfortably for Shoreham, who finished on 147 for 3. A victorious session in the George concluded what has been a season noticeable for the Sunday side’s camaraderie if not necessarily for its number of wins. But hey, who’s counting?

Ed

The most youthful Sunday side for a generation took to the field to face the might of Ightham. Openers Palmer and Hewett bowled well with Palmer taking two wickets in the first over. At 62-5 Captain Jack “Sparrow” Rivett felt it time to change up the bowling leaving Palmer (8-3-25-4) and Hewett (8-2-38-1) with fantastic figures. They were replaced with George Rivett (4-0-21-1) and Danny Setterfield (5-1-17-1). Rivett managed to pick up the wicket of traitor Mazzon who made up the numbers for Ightham. Sparrow took the catch tidily at short mid-on and also picked up another later in the innings to make up for shelling a sitter off the bowling of Joel. Dan James (4-0-28-0) found his bowling shoes as did George Stacey (3-0-25-0) although his figures don’t reflect how well he bowled at a crucial time in the game. Sparrow (1.5-0-3-2) and Sam Trick (1-0-4-1) protected their averages by clearing up the tail and it was inside for an early Montie tea.

With a target of 168 Shoreham were feeling fairly confident but they were surprised by Ightham’s strong bowling attack especially the opener Benwell who showed stamina whilst bowling his 13.3 overs for 4 wickets. Montie (17) and Sam (6) opened followed by Danny Setterfield (17) and Haysler (14) who hit the biggest six of the game onto the 10th hole. Kumar (4), George Stacey (2) and Dan James (0) gave us the familiar middle order collapse but that brought Joel Hewett to the crease who kept the innings alive with his unbeaten 33. Bros Rivett put on 12 between them – with 8 coming off one of Mazzon’s overs! Palmer propped up the innings with a duck and although Shoreham came 41 runs short of winning the game gave us lots of ammo to throw at Mazzon!

- George

So the eagerly awaited fixture between Shoreham and ACME came around yet again and with Captain Pat out of action the captaincy fell to vice-captain Jack Rivett. In true captain’s fashion Jack managed to miss the toss but in his absence Shoreham won the toss and elected to field with foreshadowing from the changing room: “We may manage to get one more losing draw this season!”

Both teams took to the field with ten players and both were concerned as the missing Shoreham player was responsible for the teas: Richard Nash. Luckily Richard turned up a couple of overs in by which point Mazzon had already taken the wicket of Johnson for a duck. He (7-4-10-1) and Joel Hewett (6-0-39-1) opened the bowling well each taking a wicket. Joel’s came in his final over in which he bowled two beamers at the batsman’s head followed by a slower ball which cut down the hill which the batsman wrongly decided to leave. He was replaced by George Rivett (6-0-35-1) who gave Styles his second catch of the game at slip whilst Mazzon was replaced by Setterfield (4-0-34-0) at the pavilion end. Fifth and Sixth change bowlers were Captain Jack (7-0-45-2) and Raymondo (6-0-25-0) who each threatened the batsmen in their own way. The breakthrough came when the two teamed up. Captain Jack forced a mistake from Suua (71) who looped one up behind Raymondo at gully who pirouetted perfectly to pouch the catch. Jack was also supported from a catch by Haysler at keeper. George Stacey (1-0-11-0) took the final over before ACME declared on 213-5. Special mention should go to Nash and Hewett who each ran up and down the boundaries all innings.

After a fantastic tea, it was ACME’s turn to take to the field with Haysler (7) and Styles (13) opening. After the first over, Shoreham were looking good at 7-0 but the run rate slowed due to very tight bowling and when Haysler lost his middle stump, Setterfield was brought to the crease. Danny produced yet another fine innings ending on a tragically close 49 and he was ably assisted by Nash (30), Raymondo (20) and finally George Stacey who spent most of the innings telling anyone who would listen how he couldn’t bat and then produced the second highest score of the innings of 32 in about 25 balls! Joel (4*) and Dan James (4) saw out the final over of the innings to end on 164-8. It was another losing draw to add to the collection and it was immediately celebrated at the pub with many beers but more importantly many bowls of chips…

- George Rivett

It seems rumours of Buckhurst’s demise were premature. There they were, large as life – the same familiar faces and the same names on the shirts – Axtel, Drown and Riley. J Simmonds was there too. No, not the beauty who played Kirk Douglas’ wife in Spartacus, nor the blood-spitting, fire-breathing and tongue-wagging front man from Kiss. Only the team’s name was new – Penshurst Bucks – much posher.

Shoreham’s skipper continued his winning form – well, as far as the toss is concerned, and Shoreham took to the field.

The Bucks’ reputation for big hitting is legendary, so the addition of first- team bowler Gary Hukins and Lemmings opening bowler James Baker (guest-starring for the day) were much appreciated. Both bowled tightly to keep the run rate below 3 an over in their spells.

Opener J. Drown stepped across a straight one from Gary and was given out for only 6 runs. The Shoreham skipper, fielding at short mid-on, provided a rare on-field contribution by taking a sharp one-handed catch off a well struck drive from Bucks’ captain Sharp (20). Jack Rivett juggled a similarly well hit shot from R. Axtel (12) at mid wicket. Leppard (16) missed a straight one from Ray which would surely have landed in the next parish had he connected. Ray then dismissed N. Riley (1) lbw. Jack got his 2nd wicket bowling J. Simmonds (18). James Baker took the catch of the day with a spectacular dive at cover off Paul Styles’ bowling, dismissing D. Riley (24). Dan James’ eventful over saw S. Axtel caught and bowled for 16 runs – most of them scored off the very same over. James Baker finished off the Bucks’ 10 men taking an easy chance at square leg from Bob Stacey’s 2nd over.

The Bucks had scored 113 runs but Shoreham sportingly provided 29 extras to boost the visitors’ total to 142.

A special mention is deserved for Harry Stacey, who shared fielding duties with his dad and very nearly got 2 run-outs.

A delicious early tea from Cath Styles was leisurely enjoyed, during which Harry defected to the opposition.

Shoreham’s opening batsmen Haysler and Styles took to the field and steadily took to the bowling. Alex practised his two favourite shots – the square cut and the guide down to third man – a less than brilliantly executed example of the latter seeing him caught at slip on a promising 27. Paul batted well and proved his sprightliness by running a 3, eventually falling lbw after a useful 25. Ray succumbed first ball to a great delivery from D. Riley, which swung away then seamed down the hill to remove the left hander’s off-stump. George Stacey played a cameo role as the third member of the family to grace the field, bringing Kumar to the crease. Kumar’s innings (30) was easily the most entertaining, not just for the 6 fours (3 of them in consecutive balls off the hapless Sharp), but also because he had the honour of becoming Harry Stacey’s first ever wicket in adult cricket.

The victory was completed by Gary Hukins who, after seeing off D. Riley’s hat-trick ball, played a cultured innings of 28 not out.

Well done all.

- Pat