2s beat Sissinghurst

With the recent run of hot weather we welcomed Sissinghurst 2s to the Green with the outfield starting to look less green and more like a Savannah.

Skipper Croom lost the toss. That was no surprise but the opposition choosing to field on hot day was unexpected.

Croom himself and Chris Filmer donned their pads first up. In recent weeks we have scored a little too slowly. We were admittedly helped by the opposition being one short and the outfield being very fast but we looked to have a little more oomph about us this week.

The captain started well against a decent attack, timing the ball well. The pair had put on 46 before the skipper appeared to shoulder arms to one that swung back and took the top of off stump. He later claimed he had just played down the wrong line but wiser heads noted that the Wales v South Africa game was about to start on TV and he departed for 25.

Si Barker was in next at No 3. He spends so long looking after the square it is lovely to see him making use of it himself. However his timing was slightly awry and he got a leading edge to mid off after scoring 10.

Sam “the Great White Shark” Luxton was in at 4. With A Levels and Head Boy duties this year he has not played much cricket. However his technique is text book and with his powerful frame (the benefit of spending hours each week in the gym posing in front of mirrors with your match reporter’s son) he can be destructive. A few beautiful drives and some rapid running got him to 17 before he fell hook line and sinker for a slower ball and looped a catch back to the bowler.

Filmer was going well throughout scoring runs and annoying the opposition with his late cut. At one point he scored 4 consecutive boundaries off the opening bowler.

The new batsman in at 5 looked familiar, if a bit menacing. With a beard worthy of WG Grace, it was only when he started batting that the hirsute hero was revealed not to be John Steinbeck’s Lenny but our very own Steve Pearce. It’s hoped that once his starring role in Where the Crawdads Sing is over, he will be available more often. Because boy does he make batting look easy.

He and Filmer punished the bad balls and quite a few good balls.
One little flick from Pearce resulted in tile damage and several balls sent the fielders into the path of the traffic. The pair put on 128 in good time.

Filmer reached a great century. He was dropped once behind the wicket but it was an excellent knock. He was riled by one bowler’s comment “he only has one shot” (to be fair, the bloke has a point) and spent the next few balls angry before eventually giving him the charge and being stumped. He was out of his ground by a good 10 yards. A fantastic innings of 113.

Matt Adamson was next in but did not have time to play himself in before being bowled for 2.
Euan Coveney had a few balls at the death.
Pearce was 87 not out at the end of the innings.
We had reached an impressive 278 for 5.

After tea, Andy Dampier opened the bowling. His first two overs were a load of old tosh including conceding two 4 wides. Thereafter he found his usual rhythm and ended with fine figures of 9-3-24-2.

Lucas Brookman started at the Oak end and bowled well. His figures of 6-2-15-1 were well deserved.
Ben Lush replaced him and bowled well getting the ball to move nicely. He ended 8.4-2-19-2 including Barker getting the second of his catches behind the stumps.

Luxton replaced Damps from the White Horse end. His ring rustiness showed in his follow through being non existent. However he hits the track hard and uses the seam well.
He got three wickets for 17 runs in his three overs. His final wicket was a sharp delivery that angled back and took the top of off stump. His first two though had been caught and bowled from rank full tosses.

Tom Mullins replaced Luxton. He only conceded 4 runs from his three overs and took one good wicket. He would have had another but the skipper Croom could not quite hold onto a difficult chance in the covers. Despite it being a tough chance the grumpy bowler was not happy and started ranting under his breath. It may come as a surprise to Tim to discover he was apparently illegitimate and shares characteristics with parts of the female anatomy.

Croom was though the star of the fielding with his repeated skilful use of his left boot. His ability to bring fierce drives under control was worthy of Di Stefano or Puskas.

Sissinghurst were all out for 90. A comfortable win for Bearsted on a warm day