Catch up with all the latest from the Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League from the weekend.

SHEPHERD NEAME KENT CRICKET LEAGUE PREMIER LEAGUE

WEEK 4 – 27 May 2017

Hartley 326-3 beat Tunbridge Wells 305-7 by 12 runs DLS

Holmesdale 209 lost to Sevenoaks Vine 211-6 by 4 wickets

Lordswood 160-10 lost to Beckenham 287-7 by 127 runs

Sandwich Town 288-5 beat Bexley 281-10 by 7 runs

Tenterden  261-8 lost to Blackheath 262-9 by 1 wicket

A day of high scoring,  six centuries and some close encounters sees Sandwich head to the top of the table by eleven points being the only Club to have won all four of their matches to date. They entertained fellow unbeatens Bexley at the Butts and won a tense and close battle by seven runs. Sandwich won the toss and elected to bat and thanks to 94 from Robert Goatham and an unbeaten 61 by Grant Stewart they made merry of fine batting conditions to reach a useful 288-5 at the close. The Bexley chase was dominated by a fine run a ball 140 by Callum Basey and while he was still there, although the run rate had climbed, the game was in the balance. Sadly for Bexley, Basey was the eighth wicket to fall, thirty short of their target, an despite a valiant unbeaten flurry of 31 off 17 balls by Harry Furze, Bexley lost their last wicket on the final ball of the match to lose by just seven runs. A second top of the table clash occurs again next weekend as Sandwich visit second placed Hartley. The winners are likely to take or will retain top spot at this early stage!

This result now leaves a pack of four in ‘mid-table’ all with three wins from four. A superb 118 by Tanweer Sikander helped Blackheath to be one of these as they recorded a thrilling one wicket victory at Tenterden when the home side seemed destined for victory. An excellent 114 by Jacobus du Plooy earlier assisted by 40 from Ben Price and 38 Linden Lockhart allowed the home side, who had won the toss and elected to bat, to set Blackheath the total of 261 to chase. Warren Lee and Jahid Ahmed both took three wickets apiece. At 93-6 Blackheath looked well and truly beaten but Sikander stood firm. He received some solid support from lower order Jahid Ahmed and Joe Kerridge who both made 23, the latter unbeaten. Sikander was ninth out on his 107th ball with the scores level, a tie was a possibility, but the away side nudged the final single from the fourth ball of the final over. A magnificent advertisement for cricket.

There was another thriller at Culvey Close where, a slightly affected DLS match due to an injury, Tunbridge Wells fell 12 runs short of their revised target in a high scoring match, containing three centuries, against current champions Hartley. The home side won the toss and rather put the TW bowling to the sword with James Hockley blasting a magnificent 136 form 126 balls and Dominic Hendricks 124 allowing Hartley to post a seemingly unsurpassable total of 326-3 from their 50. Tunbridge Wells put in a quite exceptional effort to chase these down. After a couple of overs were lost to an injury and, the TW target was reduced to 317 from 48. Skipper Alexander Williams scored a fine 103, Michael Waller 58 and Nick Sale an unbeaten 62 from 41, but Andy Tutt took 3-40 from his spell and a very economical 1-33 by Dan Redwood just held the chase behind the clock. The time ran out for the visitors in another great example of the game.

Beckenham stay in the chasing pack as one of the teams to have won three as they notched up an emphatic 127 run victory at Martin Grove, Lordswood. Invited to bat, the visitors found some good form with the bat, Oliver Robinson leading the way with 83 not out and a handy 51 by Alex Blake in his first appearance of the season due to County duties, as they reached 287-7 at the half way stage. Jack Laraman 59 and Zahmeer Khan 41 put on a decent opening partnership but the rema inder of the batting disappointed as wickets fell at regular intervals. Jos Siddall returned the best figures for Beckenham with 3-26 as Lordswood slumped to 160 all out.

The final match of the day was the Sevenoaks Derby where Sevenoaks Vine visited Holmesdale in their first League encounter for twenty years since expansion of the League. It was the Vine who took the spoils with a four-wicket victory. Holmesdale elected to bat and made a solid start reaching 119-2. A number of batsmen got set but only Dominic May passed thirty, scoring 32. They will have been disappointed after their start to reach only 209. They made the Vine work hard for their victory and it took a patient unbeaten 90 by Harrison Smyth to ensure they did so with four wickets in hand.