2s win at The Hollies

For the second week on the trot Bearsted 2s were greeted by a glorious cerulean sky. This time we were up at Hollies for a 40 over friendly against Holcombe & Blue Bell Hill.
The sky was blue but the wind blowing off the Downs would have had Sir Ben Ainslie reaching for a box of Andrex.

The skipper, not wishing to face the inevitable paragraph in the match report, seemingly decided not to bother doing the toss and let the opposition choose to bowl.
Croom himself and Latter opened our innings.

The sightscreen at the bottom of the field was rather tatty and torn and had to be affixed to the diagonal struts using brute force and some cable ties. It was thus that the opposition’s senior bowler, Nigel McDonald, opened the bowling up the hill into the breeze, from what has officially been renamed the “Y-Fronts End”.

He used the wind well and was bowling boomerangs away from the batsman. His fourth ball pitched on middle and leg and hit the top of off stump. Croom looked crestfallen. Latter, not wishing to miss out on runs, called his skipper for a quick single, noting that the ball was travelling towards third man and the opposition did not seem to be chasing it. Wisely our Welsh leader decided not to run, feeling perhaps that being clean bowled was probably an impediment too far for the umpire and scorer and walked back to the pavilion.

Haggart came out at three. The opposition’s other bowler was younger and not as much of a swinger, that probably comes with age, but useful down the hill.
Haggart looked in form but kept finding the fielders. He was dropped once by the bowler before a lofted drive went to mid on. The fielder lost his footing whilst changing direction and fell to his knees before the ball arrived. Despite that, he held onto a good catch. Haggart gone for 4.

Horrocks came out and scored 6 before being bowled by a yorker for 6. After 18 overs we were 49 for 3.

Barker came out next and with bowling changes occurring regularly was harsh on poor deliveries earning the soubriquet “The Despatcher”.

One of the bowling changes particularly helped, with Patel conceding 3 boundaries and bowling 5 wides in his first over (there could have been a couple more but the kindly handsome umpire took pity on him).

Barker holed out for 28.Latter was accumulating steadily, for the second week on the trot.
Skinner, having cried a lot about not batting last week, was sent out next. He looked in reasonable form, well for him anyway.

He was soon joined by Steve Pearce after Latter played on for a good 38. Seasoned observers will realise Pearce and Skinner are very similar batsman. Indeed with their fierce striking it is hard to tell them apart.

The crowd were frustrated then when Skinner drove the ball to a very deep mid off and declined the easy single. He received some vocal abuse from the gallery. However it was the last ball of the over and meant Pearce would be on strike. He immediately despatched their best bowler for a brutal 4 and two balls later lofted a magnificent drive over mid on, some distance into the farmer’s field. Skinner enquired of the chastened crowd if they had rather he had been facing. Pearce then returned the favour and declined an easy single of the 6th ball so Skinner could face. A kind gesture except his partner completely lost track of the ball leaving a gap as wide as the Suez Canal. Clean bowled for 10.

We then unleashed the youth. Lou French looks a good bat but has the unfortunate trait, common of so many youngsters, of hitting the ball and forgetting to call, hoping instead their partner will read their mind. He looked good for his 6.

James West came in next. Pearce reached his 50 before being clean bowled trying to force a good delivery into the off side.
With Lush refusing the get changed into his whites, Savage came out next. With the final delivery he hit the ball to point and was called for a single by West. Savage loooked aghast and made only a token effort to run. Fortunately the opposition made a right hash of the run out.
We finished on 174 for 8. It was not a huge target.

After self made teas, Lush opened the bowling from the Y Fronts end. The opposition skipper promptly despatched a long hop to the point boundary. Lush wanted to check that he really could play that shot so he served up several more. 15 off the first over.

We aren’t sure which Lush brother it was. The bowler assured us his name was Alex but we have our doubts. He got better, conceding only 37 off his 7 overs.

At the other end, James West was given the ball. When last seen in Bearsted colours in our U15s he was a scrawny callow youth with not much about him. He’s still a bit scrawny and callow but he has turned into what looks to be a very fine bowler. We are yet to see if he can do it on a cold wet windy Tuesday night away at Stoke but he looks a great talent.

He reminds your scribe of Harry Slevin, except that James was a quiet, polite, well behaved young man who did not insist on swearing, abusing the opposition and belching loudly at all opportunities (Hi Harry, does your Mum still read these match reports?).

Much to our relief he sent the opposition skipper back, courtesy of a sharp catch at first slip by Horrocks. Indeed he was bowling so well one sagacious fielder quietly suggested to Croom that it may be worth putting in a second slip. Croom said there was no need. One ball later you know exactly what happened.

West’s first three overs involved that excellent wicket and without conceding any runs.
Well that should have been the case.One shot went towards Barker at point. Simon does not seem to have much between his legs, except a gap, and allowed it to roll through. It did not go very far behind him but as Barker just stood there laughing at his own inadequacy, the batsmen scampered through for a single.

West finished with fine figures of 8-2-20-2

Lou French was next on to bowl and looked useful; he needs to believe in himself more. (And get a cricket jumper). His 4 overs only went for 8 runs.

Latter bowled well but with a few more loose deliveries than usual, conceded 33 runs off his 6 overs.

Horrible Horrocks was thrown the ball. Having recently celebrated his 40th birthday, or so he claimed, he remains a very useful cricketer. He bowled both their No2 and 3 who were well set. He celebrated one wicket effusively and loudly. It transpired that he had heard the opposition batsman say of him, “oh he just trundles in” and taken great offence. His seven overs included those two wickets and only cost 16 runs.

Barker came on and bowled better than last week, albeit with a few too many down the leg side. His final figures were 8-1-34-4

With skipper Croom at 44 being the 7th oldest player in the team there were some experienced legs out in the field. Skinner, who was once a fine fielder, but around the time of the Boxer Rebellion, found himself in the covers for the entire game. On Sunday morning he awoke with the skin off both his knees, aching legs, feet and a back worthy of Quasimodo.

Savage took 2 catches behind the stumps with none dropped.

Star fielder though was Steve Pearce who covered vast amounts of ground on the top boundary.
The opposition innings petered out somewhat and they finished on 154 for 8. It did mean that if they had not bowled 22 wides they would have won.

A good win for Bearsted against a decent side.