2s v Sennocke

With a large number of players unavailable throughout the club, Bearsted 2s arrived at Sennocke with only three of last week’s side in the team.
The venue is scandalously picturesque, in the grounds of Knole House. The pitch is shared with the roaming fallow deer and has, in the finest tradition of Kentish cricket, a large tree inside the boundary.
With Croom and Filmer away, Si Barker was in charge, albeit arriving a bit late. With only 9 players safely arrived at the ground and the weather baking hot, it was a little surprising to hear him choose to field, after winning the toss.
Fortunately the Coveney family seemingly took a short cut across the golf course and parked on the 12th green to drop Euan off, and we started with 10.
James West, fresh off finishing his A Levels, opened the bowling and looked sharp.
Ben Lush started from the other end. The ground is on quite a slope. From Lush’s end everything dropped away to the leg side. With the home batsmen clearly favouring playing to leg, it was not entirely clear why he was given 7 fielders on the off and only the 1 on the leg side. He bowled a good line, and even swung the ball up the slope, but the Sennocke batsmen unsurprisingly made hay while the sun was shining.
They reached 76 for one off the first 10 overs.
Pearce arrived around that time and took over the keeper’s gloves.

Sennocke ran very well, often taking singles when there seemingly wasn’t one there and challenged the fielders throughout the innings.
Lush had struck first, taking a decent caught & bowled. But with the field as it was it, it was no surprise that he went for 49 off his first five overs. He was replaced by Coveney. He has an excessively long run, youthful enthusiasm no doubt, but bowls well getting some swing.
He took 3 for 27 off his 6 overs including an excellent catch by West, diving in from square leg. West was to take three brilliant catches, none of which his team mates would have got near.
Latter slowed the run rate down a bit, conceding only 43 off his 8 overs.
Abis Malik bowled some good deliveries and finished with figures of 6-0-42-0
With Mubarik Shah off the field having treatment on a nasty finger injury, we were back down to ten.
Jamie Baker bowled 4 tidy overs for 29 runs.
We did put down four chances, one a great effort though by Pearce running for a ball that went over his head.
The skipper dropped one at cow corner that then rolled ten yards in front of him. With his entire team screaming at him to “get the ball in” he started berating himself and practising how he should have positioned his hands. The batsmen gladly accepted the opportunity to amble back for another run
The Sennocke opener, Ian Calling, was imperious. He eventually fell for 140 after smashing the ball back at Ben Lush who took his second caught and bowled. He was to finish, after two spells with figures of 7-0-61-3
West also returned and helped clean up the tail finishing 8.2-0-42-2.
Pearce kept well and took two good catches
Sennocke were all out for 256 for 9, having only 10 players.
We still had a decent early batting line up with Latter and Nigel Baker opening up. Sennocke though, bowled tightly and intelligently and had some good fielders. They didn’t give us many opportunities to score. Baker fell first, playing on for 11. Pearce was next in but Latter soon went, caught for 8.
James West came in at No 4. He has an immaculate technique and uses his feet bowl but perhaps looks too hard to get on the front foot. He was dropped a few times but eventually ran out of luck looping one up to short cover for 21.
The skipper unselfishly dropped himself down the order. Tim Lush was in at 5. He looked in good nick and tried to keep the score moving along.
Pearce at the other end wasn’t in the finest of form but even out of touch he is class act and occasionally destructive. One seemingly gentle flick over mid on sailed for a contemptuous 6. Short extra cover took one on the shins and regretted it.
At one point during the innings there was a very short delay when a gentleman escorted his mother and her chair behind the bowler’s arm to come and watch the cricket. Fortunately nobody shouted abuse or told them to “get off the land” as it transpired it was Lord Sackville-West himself, whose very land it was and whose brother was playing for the home team.
Lush and Pearce put on 86 relatively untroubled but we finished on 157 for 3 off our 40 overs.
Sennocke were a nice bunch. We couldn’t complain about the result as they had out-thought, out -fielded, out-bowled and out-batted us.
Next week we are at home to Meopham.