It was another scorcher on The Brown this time hosting Meopham who were anything but fresh from their tour of the Netherlands. It made a nice change to see the opposition more hungover than we were. With no umpire for the visitors a quick and decisive decision was made at the non-toss and we would bat first on a wicket that had produced 500 runs only 2 weeks ago. What could go wrong?

As usual it was Noel and Lewis opening up and despite the hangovers the Meopham bowlers started very well giving little away. With the skipper doing square leg umpire duties, Lewis summoned him to say that the wicket was not quite the road it had been, a little 2 paced in fact. Concern was relayed from the skipper, although inside his own head he was thinking more about the sandwiches he had prepared for tea and when was the optimum time to eat them. No further thought was given to the aforementioned concerns about the wicket, all will be fine.

Soon after Noel returned to the pavilion having snicked off. No dramas, a lot of batting to come. A few balls later Joe was heading back to the pavilion. No dramas, a lot of batting to come. 4 runs later it was Lewis heading back to the pavilion. Some dramas now even if we did have a lot of batting to come.

Benj and Milo now in the middle and it was important to rebuild, which they did briefly before Benj was well caught on the boundary leaving us 61/4 from 13 overs and surviving to drinks at 15 felt a worrying but sensible target. What was happening? Jon went out to join Miles to restore some calm and soon replaced by Westy who headed out to restore some calm who was replaced by Lushy 2 balls later hoping to restore some calm.

Lushy and Milo saw us to drinks with Milo playing the reverse cameo role well but soon after drinks were taken Lushy was gone and the score now 68/7 from 17 overs. Could we be sure that we had not just toured the Netherlands the week before? Nothing was certain at this point. Simon was in next and both he and Milo batted sensibly for the next 7 overs putting on a much needed 30 run partnership before Simon clothed one to mid off. 96/8 now and the plucky skipper joined Milo in the middle.

Sensible advice was passed on from the reverse cameo specialist Milo about building a partnership which the skipper ignored and left a ball that narrowly missed his off stump. A good leave or a bad leave I wonder? Sadly, Miles departed at the end of the 26th over for a very gritty 35 from 52 balls, which was a vital knock in the circumstances, and it was Keagan Luke making his debut joining the skipper in the middle with the score at 111/9 with 14 overs to go. Could we make it to 140 or even 150? It felt unlikely but who knows.

Fortunately, by this point the Meopham hangovers had truly bitten in hard. Dehydration was setting in across the outfield and Lushy had orders to ramp up the quadruple concentrated orange allocation in the opposition’s drinks to push them towards mild hallucinations. Thankfully this seemed to work as they offered up a veritable smorgasbord of pull shots which the skipper gladly accepted whilst Keagan dug in heroically looking assured in defence and picking gaps in the field to push vital singles. With Keagan’s iron will and solid technique the pair put on a 64 run partnership for the last wicket taking the opposition deep into the 37th over before Keagan fell LBW to a very good ball with the skipper unbeaten on 59 at the other end. 175 all out was not what we had hoped for at the toss but at the innings break it felt as though the momentum might have shifted in our favour.

Back out in the middle there was a change to the bowling order with Lushy off a shorter run up and Milo opening up the hill. Could we build some early pressure? No. A number of boundaries from the opposition opener put us on the back foot, they were decent shots to be fair, but then the pressure started to build.

With their other opener struggling to deal with the swing from Lush he snicked his 10th ball to the unnamed keeper and he was gone for 1. The oppo skipper was in next and he had scored some decent runs this season so was a key wicket and after 10 or so balls he nailed one straight to Westy at mid on. Rather than the usual “WAIT……NO RUN” that we all expected, there was instead a call of “YES” with only one batsman running…..what a chance! With both batsmen at the bowlers end Westy just needed to throw it to the keeper and one of them is gone. What an opportunity! Westy, for fun and added complexity, nails his throw to the bowler’s end, which both batsmen were now occupying, which Lushy then had to then gather on the half volley and then in turn throw to the keeper. A fairly complex solution to a seemingly straight forward situation. Fortunately and possibly hangover and highly concentrated orange squash induced, neither batsmen showed any interest in rectifying the situation and their number 3 was gone. 31/2 from 7 overs. This game is on!

It was Milo who struck next snicking off their dangerous number 4 in the 10th over, caught by The UK, after some very tidy and economical bowling and then it was over 11 and Lush down the hill. With his short run up. And the ball hooping. 1st ball. Too much hoop. Wide. 2nd ball and a swipe for 1 by their opener bringing their number 5 to face his 2nd ball. Field set, ball hooping, in comes Lush, inswing, batsman shoulders arms, no shot played hit his pad outside the off stump but possibly hitting the top of off, massive appeal!!!!! Not out. Probably right but very close. Ball 4, more swing and the batsman is stuck on his crease, hits the pad bang in front, even bigger appeal!! Must be out! It is! 41/4!!!! Come on!!!! Ball 5 and a solid forward defensive shot from the oppos leading run scorer. Ball 6 another wide. At this point the author of this match report has realised that he had not fully understood how many balls there had been in the 11th over and had he realised would not have ventured into the ball by ball analysis but as he has come this far he will persist. Ball 15 and in comes Lush. The ball is on a line outside off stump, the batsman goes back to cut it, as he does the ball starts to swing in, a lot, and keeps swinging past the bat and on to the top of middle. What. A. Ball!!! Ball 16 and words of wisdom passed on from their opening batsman to the new batsman. The ball is swinging. Get forward. Get behind it. Lush is in bowls, more in swing, massive ugly swipe from the batsman and his middle stump is gone! 2 in 2 and 3 in the over! What an over that was and the score now sat on 42/6 from 11 overs. Outstanding effort and another momentum shift in the game.

With 4 wickets left to take it was the double spin option of Benj (from the House End) and Joe (from the Horse End) and Benj struck in the 18th over, his 2nd over, with a sharp catch from Simon at midwicket. In the 19th over it was Joe’s turn taking a wicket with his 2nd ball clean bowling their number 9 with a ball that turned sharply, in the 20th over it was Benj’s turn taking a steepler off his own bowling to dismiss their opener, who had put on a good 50, and then in the 21st over Joe took the 10th wicket aided by a superb catch from Westy, who hurtled in from the boundary, skidded across the dusty outfield and snatched the ball just above the ground opening up the cut on his knee for the 52nd game in a row.

And that, as they say, was that! 83 all out from 20.3 overs! What a result! Only 4 bowlers were used and all performed admirably, Milo leading us off in economical style with 7 overs 1 for 21, Benj and Joe finishing it off, Benj with 2 for 14 from 3, 1 maiden, and Joe 2 for 5 from 1.3 and Lushy who did the damage up top with 4 for 39 from his 9 overs including 1 maiden. A top top win rescued from the hungover jaws of the dehydrated Meopham. Well done all and in particular a massive massive well done to Keagan Luke who showed nerves of steel, some top batting technique and a superb will to win and to make a difference. You made a superb impression and we would not have won this game without your contribution. 4 more cup finals to go.