Week 2 of the league saw us entertain Eynsford at home. The covers had been on overnight and it was a bright afternoon, with Alex complaining about the possible lack of carry and Simon insisting it was rock hard. Bat or bowl? We do not want another Meopham away that is for sure. Bat first. Decision made.

As always Lushy opened the bowling down the hill with Jon up the hill and it was immediately apparent that Simon was right and it was an absolute road. The left handed Eynsford opener quicky moved into the late 40s hitting shots only off the cue end of his bat, which on the lightening quick green, somehow managed to go for 4, whilst the other opener was there purely to see off the threat of Lush, according to Lush.

It was Jon who opened the account clean bowling the guy solely there to neutralize Lushy’s personality with a lovely yorker. 14/1 in the 6th over. Lovely. In came their number 3 and the 2 batsmen managed to amass a 70 run partnership predominantly through inside edges but it was over to our man from the Middle East to make the breakthrough in his first over. Their left hander edged another pull shot this time high, high into the sky, still rising, swirling in the wind, spinning and spinning. This would take some catch especially if you happen to be wearing a helmet and have 10 other helmets screaming catch it. No problem for the unnamed keeper. 84/2.

Henslow struck again in the same over having their number 4 plumb LBW but it was sadly not given by their umpire. At least Miles didn’t make a scene. Oh no my fault, Miles made a massive scene. Well at least he didn’t continue to make a scene and then make a joke with the opposition batsman that the umpire thought was directed at him. Oh no hang on that is exactly what happened. Surely, he must be moving country soon? Anyway he had him caught by Simon in the gully a ball later thankfully. 94/3 and things feel good.

With Pep having bowled a good but unlucky spell we had the Joe Waylett bowling from the House End to their number 3 who absolutely loves a massive thwack over the pavilion. Best of luck Joe. Between Henslow and Waylett we built some lovely pressure resulting in their skipper departing for 5 from 33 balls, bowled Henslow, caught UK. 117/4. After last week it was important to keep taking wickets and not have another situation where they put on 100 + more runs for no more wickets. We must keep the pressure on.

Unfortunately the opposite happened as they built a 100 + partnership in 12 overs with some massive hits from their number 3. Let’s at least finish strong and take the momentum into our innings. 39th over, with the score on 228/4. Final over from Lush. First ball……Off stump yorker and he’s gone. 228/5. Everyone stay where you are, next ball. Leg Stump Yorker! Bails flying! 228/6 and 2 in 2 balls! Should we bring everyone in? Slips? Silly mid on? No, everyone stay where you are says Lush. Interesting, another yorker perhaps? Bingo! Hattrick!!! 3 in 3! Well done Lushy, outstanding bowling!! We need to see at least one hattrick a season but no double hattricks, that would be unbearable. Next ball comes in, batsman flicks it off his pads. Has he got hold of it? Looks like he has got none of it…. Please say we haven’t put a fielder there…. We have! Please say it is not one of those who can catch? It is! Westy is there! He doesn’t drop these. A whole season of mindless banter about the double hattrick, in games, in practice, in the pub, in games again flashes before my eyes. Do the right thing Westy, do the right thing…..and…..down! Catch dropped! Phew.

They close out their innings on 244/7 with their number 3 129 not out. It’s a decent score but on a road of a pitch and on the green it was in no way insurmountable. All round it was a mixed bag in the field but outstanding bowling particularly from Lush with figures of 3 for 46 (including a hattrick but not including a double hattrick) from his 9 and Milo with 3 for 19 from his 9 (1 maiden). Jon took the other wicket and had figures of 1 for 42 from his 6 (2 maidens).

Out we went to bat needing 245 to win in what would be our largest run chase in at least the last 6 months. The skies had turned grey, the wind was up and the rain had died down exacerbating the challenge at hand. Out strode Noel and Lewis to set the tone for the innings with Noel soon to be joined by Joe to reset the tone.

After losing the early wicket of Lewis, Noel and Joe batted beautify with Joe crushing his 4th ball for a glorious cover drive for 4 and Noel was soon off the mark with a flick behind square leg taking us to 27/1 from 5 (notable nod to E.Xtras who had a rocket of a start for us for once). From that point on the shots were flying and the score sat nicely at 57/1 from 10. By this point Joe was seeing it like a beach ball and brought up his 50 in only 36 balls, a superb knock but more to do. Say no more said Joe, who smashed a 6 over extra cover to bring up our 100 in the 16th over before unfortunately being bowled in the 19th over for a brilliantly well made 82 from 58 balls and with the score at 120/2.

Dan Seaman was up next looking to build a partnership with Noel who was bating very patiently at the other end but then started to up the rate with some lovely boundaries only to fall 1 run short of his 50 from 75 balls with the score now 152/3 in the 24th over. 93 to get from 16 overs, 7 wickets in hand. Should be fine but the nerves were jangling.

With West and Seaman now in the middle it was important to build a partnership. Dan took the lead and moved the scoring along quickly whilst Westy rotated the strike. Sadly, Dan played all around one and departed for a well made 24 from 26 balls which brought Henslow to the crease with the score on 177/4. More nerves. More jangling. Very, very cold. More jumpers. Westy immediately steadied the ship with a glorious cover drive followed by a Henslow flick for 4. An important over which saw us reach 190/4 with 10 overs remaining. With plenty of batting still to come it should be fine but with the waiting batsmen frozen to the bone anything could happen. Maybe Westy and Henslow can see us home? Well for a moment this looked likely until Milo took a run that only Lushy would have taken had Milo been at the other end and he was gone for a quick fire 21 from 15 and the score now 204/5. Collective sucking in of breath over the teeth could be seen and heard across the sidelines.

Fear not, with the never ending batting line up Pep was up next. Did someone say he had Jason Roy’s bat in his hand? Bang 6 over mid on with a beautiful checked drive followed by a Westy cover drive. Glorious batting from the pair and with a couple more boundaries from Westy we were home and hosed at 247/5 with 2.5 overs in hand. Westy finished on 33 not out from 34 balls and Pep 21 not out from 19 to complete an utterly superb run chase and a victory to be very proud of. There were contributions across the team, and it was a brilliantly controlled run chase, but hats off to Joe for his sublime 82 from 52 balls.

Mid-May we find ourselves 2 wins out of 2 in the league and in the semi-finals of the Kent round of the National round of the Village section of the Cup. A better start we could not have hoped for. Outwood away up next so start packing your cars and make sure you set off with plenty of time. It promises to be a good one. On to the next game.