Bearsted 1st XI beat Shoreham CC in early game

The headline match of Saturday 7th July saw Bearsted take on Shoreham CC for the first set of reverse fixtures of the season. A convincing win away to Shoreham at the start of the season saw the 1st XI confident of a repeat success. The game, with the leagues blessing, was gladly reduced in overs and had a much earlier start time, to accommodate for the secondary match of the day. This meant that there were still a few sore bodies from the clubs weekly Friday evening training session as we arrived at the ground before the butchers opened, for the first time in Bearsted history.

​Bearsted were put into the field as regular skipper Mark Sandhu forgot to teach the stand in skipper, Andy Dampier, how to toss a coin. Steve Benjamin made the most of the skipper’s absence by enjoying a rare opportunity to bowl down the hill and finished with figures of 5/1/7-3 for his troubles. The bowlers were rotated on the hot morning, after advice from the newly anointed and luscious leadership individual to the apparently rusty former 1st XI captain, resulting in all who bowled picking up a wicket for their troubles. A highlight was Lewis Bedwell’s expensive over going for 10 runs and bowling the opposition opener on his last ball only to be taken off for being too expensive before Jordan French, his replacement, supported his skipper’s decision by going for 20 off his over of baseball pitches. Wicket’s fell regularly as Shoreham limped to their final total of 84 all out from 20.2 overs. A total drastically short on any wicket, let alone the run friendly green.

​6.1 overs later the game was over as openers Jordan French and Noel Johnston raced to the total, with Jordan hitting the winning runs and bringing up his 50 from 25 balls with a four. Contributions equalling Joe Hart’s at the World Cup go to James Tyson, Piers Cottee-Jones and Paul Manktelow who all did nothing thanks to the great opening partnership.

​A second resounding win to Bearsted after great bowling, solid fielding and confident batting saw Shoreham bested for the second time this year in equally convincing performances. Following the game, we said farewell to James Tyson, our well-mannered Aussie, who heads back home after his second stint at the club. He has been an invaluable addition to the spirit and performance of the club and we wish him all the best.

The points came home and football’s coming home.

Come on you bears.