3s make a winning start

REPORT BY DAN SKINNER

So in an undoubtedly historic moment Bearsted’s inaugural 3rd XI travelled up the hill to Detling where a friendly welcome awaited us.
The weather was fine and the pitch was in good condition. The slope on the pitch does take some getting used to and the bank at the bottom is not for the faint hearted.

After brief negotiations Detling batted first. Bearsted had a potentially promising mix of old lags and youthful enthusiasm, combined with a very good looking skipper. The experience of the senior players showed immediately with them positioning themselves in the field up the hill from the wicket.
Paul Tinker (7-0-22-0) and Martin Daly (5-2-12-0) opened the bowling. They looked lively and were unlucky not to get wickets. With James Midgeley unavoidably delayed, Tom Mullins kept wicket tidily for the first twenty overs.
Young Luhith Herath (5-0-37-1), making his debut in Adult cricket, and Richard Sargent (5-0-21-1) took over bowling duties. Both bowled well and got a wicket each, hitting the top of off stump.

Kev Mullins and Ian Gutteridge (5-1-14-1) were the next bowlers to take over. Unfortunately Kevin’s bowling figures are unavailable. After both score books mysteriously disappeared in the pub his figures had somehow been cut out by the time the books were found. Gutteridge was very economical and unlucky only to get the one wicket.

The Detling opener Cook had taken his time to get his eye in and later hit the ball cleanly scoring an excellent 78. He was ably assisted by his skipper Norcott who ended 46 not out.
The arrival of Midge freed up Tom Mullins (6-0-19-2) for bowling duties. Midge’s athleticism standing up behind the stumps helped keep the batsmen honest and the run rate slowed somewhat. He also took a stunning catch over his head as the ball was dropping away down the slope. Dave Latter (5-0-18-2) bowled very well and snapped up a couple of late wickets. Detling scored 180 for 7. Six of our wickets had been clean bowled and the fielding performance was impressive on a hot day with an unusual pitch.

Suitably refreshed by an excellent tea James Kersey and Dave Latter opened the batting. Kersey cut loose with a lovely straight drive but then tried the same shot to a ball on a better length and was caught in the covers. Latter was joined by Martin Daly. They started cautiously and after 10 overs we only had 20 runs on the board. However once they got settled they opened up with some punishing shots. Daly realising he was rapidly approaching a half century managed to drag a very wide ball on to his stumps. He departed for 46 with a knowing smile on his face.
Herath came in at no 4 but despite obvious potential with the bat departed without scoring. Midgeley hit a swift 5.

The highlight of our innings was probably a clean strike by Latter that landed just short of the boundary took a second bounce in the road and crashed into a rather expensive looking glass lantern. The noise could have been heard in Sussex and was certainly noticed by the householders who came out to investigate. Latter did the cricketing equivalent of turning out the lights, hiding behind the sofa and pretending there was no-one in. He departed shortly afterwards, presumably to check his insurance policies, for an excellent 83.

Tom Mullins joined his father and hit a cameo 11 including one paddle round the corner for 4 whilst the bowler appealed for lbw. Deciding he wanted to get into the pub early, young Tom tired to hit a big 6 and was caught out. Gutteridge and Mullins senior saw us home safely for the loss of 6 wickets and with 4 overs to spare.

So Bearsted 3rds have a 100% success record in all of their games. The skipper had immediately announced his intention to fold the team so as to preserve that record. However as everyone seemed to enjoy themselves hopefully we can keep on playing.
Many thanks to Detling for hosting us in our inaugural match