Another big game awaited us on the Green against the in form Limpsfield Chart who had lost only once this season. Another absolute scorcher greeted us on a beautiful looking wicket with an invitingly short boundary. A clear bat first if ever there was one.

As usual Alex Lush opened the bowling from the Horse End and Jon Mitchell from the House. Both started superbly and the muggy conditions offered some lateral movement at both ends which saw both batsmen watchful in the early overs. At 37/0 from 10 things felt good. Then it happened.

In came Jimbo with a fine delivery to Asif Ali, the league’s top run scorer and a renowned biffer. Beauty of a ball. Full, late movement, nick to the very reliable unknown keeper (who is also the captain if this had not been apparent from previous reports) aaaaaaannnnnnndddddd……..down. It clips the very outside of the webbing and it’s a drop. The UK looks up and sees Joe’s head drop, Pep’s head drop, Lushy’s head drop, Simon’s head drop, Lewis’ head drop, Milo’s head drop (followed by a thought cloud considering a move back to Dubai), Jon’s head drop, Dan’s head drop, Noel’s head drop and Westy’s head drop. Replays show the difficulty of the catch, the severity of the edge, the complexity of the catch involved but regardless of these points of significance, that was it. The team had gone. The fielding performance was over. Over.

Bowling changes came and went and boundaries accumulated. Forward defence from their left hander, lovely soft hands that and it’s gone for 4. A 4? From a forward defense? Must be down to the rapid outfield. Either that or the drop from the keeper who remains unnamed. Another ball and bang that is 6, and another 6 and then some boundaries, some near run outs, more 6s and at the halfway point the score had motored to 123/0. At drinks the captain and unfortunate keeper said something about this being the worst 20 overs he had seen since he had been captain. What else could he expect though after that incredibly difficult drop?

More bowling changes, more boundaries, some near run outs and a lot of 6s the score was 172/0 from 27 overs when the ball was thrown to James West. What could he do here? Their 2 openers sat on 85 and 56 respectively and E.Xtras was playing a lovely role in the background ultimately finishing 43 not out. First ball from Westy and…….wide. 2nd ball from Westy and……..4. Angry glances from 10 players met the distraught keeper and captain. He knew. 3rd ball from Westy and bingo!!! That’s out my son. Lovely ball hitting the top of middle! That boy takes wickets and it is a massive boost that was so desperately needed and with just over 12 overs to go it was time to forget about the captain’s drop and move on.

Alex Lush now on from the horse end trying to get the other big wicket with a 2 over burst and despite the earlier drop from the keeper he does it! An absolute beauty of a slower knuckle ball style deliver that bamboozles their other opener and we are 183/2 with 2 new batsmen at the crease. Can we shake off that drop and finish strong?

Pep is on from the Horse now and the batsmen try to take a quick single to Lushy in gully. They know he’s not usually in gully. They know he’s too busy thinking about his next sledge to the batsmen and if he’s not doing that he’s probably thinking about the catch that was dropped earlier. Turns out none of those things mattered and with a quick pick up and throw it’s a direct hit and 191/3! Pep then struck for the 4th wicket in the 35th over clean bowling their number 4 with a lovely full ball that knocked back middle and leg. 215/4.

It is over to Pep from the Horse and Alex from the House to close out the final few overs. Lushy’s second ball from his 3rd spell is met by cries of “sssshhhoooootttttt” from the opposition only for Miles from Dubai to casually saunter round and take a catch that he made look very simple. Some shot that. 3 balls left in the innings and in comes Lush followed by a hack / slap from the batsman followed by a lovely catch from Westy who covered a lot of ground making the catch look easy. 2 balls to go. Lushy in and another slap hack just like the previous ball. Looking around the field you could see the collection of thoughts with roughly half of the team thinking please Westy don’t let Lushy get another hat trick and the other still incredulous about the earlier drop from the captain. This time Westy decided to let the catch drop which was probably a good thing in the long term and that was that. Innings over at 253/6 which, given the magnitude of the drop from the captain, was a pretty decent comeback after their openers put on 177 for the first wicket. Westy did brilliantly to take the vital first wicket, Pep bowled well for his 1-49 and Lushy bowled superbly on a road of a wicket, with a lightening outfield to register figures of 3-26 including 3 maidens from his 9 overs.

254 to win on a road, with good batting conditions and a stellar batting line up should be nothing. The captain gave a rousing speech about belief, responsibility, enjoying the moment, wanting to make the difference. Looking around the room it was clear. The team were still thinking about that catch. Never the less out strode the usual opening pair of Noel and Lewis to start us off. The opposition took the field (eventually) with 2 slips and a gully seemingly feeling confident about the score they had posted.

Noel saw out a first over maiden before Lewis saw his first ball and smashed it for 4. And then his second ball smashed for 4. And then his 4th ball smashed for 4 back over the bowlers head. Noel was in on the act next hitting the first ball of the next over for a lovely 4 through the covers. How are you feeling about those 2 slips and a gully now lads? Less good as one moves to plug the gap in the covers before Noel tickles one down to the fine leg boundary for 4. 21/0 off 3 overs. Lovely start.

Unfortunately, Lewis fell next over for 12 from 10 bringing Joe and Noel together. First ball to Joe and that is a lovely 4 through gully point. Superb. 3rd ball to Joe? Another 4 with a glorious guided cut shot and both Noel and Joe saw us to the 10 over mark sitting at 66/1 with Joe already on 32 (21) and Noel 21 (29) and not a slip in sight. How is your confidence feeling now fellas? Over the next few overs the pair hit fewer boundaries but ran very well picking up singles galore keeping the scoreboard moving. Then in the 19th over Joe flicks a lovely 6 over midwicket before skying one to a fielder looking to bring up his 50 in style. Sadly, it was snaffled by the oppo (presumably because their keeper had not dropped any catches) and Joe had to depart for a very well made 45 from 40 balls. Dan was out next joining Noel in the middle and the pair saw us to the halfway mark with the score 111/2, Noel on 49 (63) and Dan 2 (8). 7.1 per over required.

Over 21. 7 runs with a lovely leg glance for 4 from Noel to bring up his 50 (53 from 65 balls to be exact). Over 22 another 7 runs with another lovely 4 from Noel. Over 23 and 8 runs with ANOTHER 4 from Noel. Beautiful batting (although this one was a little edgy in truth but the slips were long long gone). After a quiet 24th over Dan took over with a lovely sweep for 4 in the 25th over and then a dance down the track and a lovely shot over mid on for another 4 in the 26th. Dan is all over it now plundering 10 from the 28th over with 3 singles from Noel and we sit on a nervy but calm 169/2 with 12 overs to go. 7 an over required, significantly down from the 7.1 required after 20.

The oppo decide to bring on a bit more pace from the Horse and first ball Noel edges one barely past their keeper, a chance which a more agile, more alert, more talented keeper would have eaten for breakfast. Staggeringly this seemed to go completely unnoticed by the opposition fielders and no heads dropped. I don’t think he was the captain though in fairness. 14 from that over with 3 4s from Noel taking him to 90 (91). Superb. Another new bowler from the House end who puts together a few decent balls and builds a bit of pressure which sadly results in Dan missing one searching for a boundary, bowled for very important 32 from 40 balls. Milo is up next promoted ahead of Westy with a license to thrill. Could he break the back of the run chase and crucially could he not run himself out for once? The answer to both questions were yes racing to 9 runs from his first 4 balls with 2 lovely boundaries alongside 5 runs from Noel racking up 14 from the over, seeing us reach 201/3 from 31. Game very much on.

Milo on strike, full toss, don’t bowl there son, 6 into the gardens. See you later ball. Next ball lovely little dropped hand flick for 4 to fine fine leg. The oppositions heads had started to drop. It was their captain bowling in fairness. 2 more singles and then another 4 from Milo (and a no ball) before he unfortunately fell chasing another boundary. A crucial knock of 24 from 9 balls moving the score to 218/4 with 8.1 remaining. 4.5 an over now.

Westy is out to bat next and he plays the last ball of the 32nd and first ball of the 33rd over for singles bringing Noel on strike with a new bowler from the Horse End. Noel is on 97 from 95 balls. On the sidelines we were all thumbing the various record books searching for the last Bearsted CC 1st XI league 100. We had gone back as far as 1963 when we heard the sound no one wanted to hear. The clink of timber, the fall of bails. Noel is out. Record books were closed and the team stood as one to applaud a truly magnificent innings. Cheers and applause rung out across the green as Noel departed for a truly superb 97 from 97 balls. Well batted. 220/5. 7.3 overs to go.

Pep joined Westy in the middle, unaware of the concerns from my nephew as to why his favourite player had so many bandages on, and he is off the mark with a quick single followed by a beautiful cover drive from Westy for 4. Next over and there’s a full toss on Pep’s legs that he absolutely murders for 4 (or did Jason Roy’s bat do it?). Next over and the same shot from Pep for 4 and then a cover drive for another 4. “Lovely bat that boy could be heard on camera”. 3 dots closed the over and all we needed now was 15 from 5. 2 lovely boundaries from Westy tied the game with 3 overs in the bank. Only one more ball was required that Pep gloriously played for 4 through extra cover only for the opposition scorer to put it down as a single. Turns out her head had dropped after that incredibly difficult drop from the unnamed keeper too. Pep closed the innings with 17 from 17 balls (should have been 20 from 17) and Westy 19 from 13 seeing us home with 2.5 overs to spare.

After our under par performance in the field, other than Lushy’s bowling and knowing the opposition had posted 253 there was never anything but a sense of confidence that we would chase that down. The way that all the batsmen played their role was outstanding with significant contributions from Lewis 12 (10), Joe 45 (40), Dan 32 (40), Milo 24 (9), Westy 19* (13) and Pep 17* (17). However, it was that wily old fox Noel who played the match winning innings holding the team together, playing some glorious shots and timing the run chase to perfection. His 97 at a run a ball and his presence in the middle for 32.3 overs was exactly what we needed. Whilst we were not able to find the last Bearsted CC 1st XI league hundred in our trawl through the record books we did find Noel’s debut game back in 1949 making it all the more impressive. Shoreham away next. Should be a good game. I can’t wait.