Week six of the Kent League Premier Division cricket season ended with Lordswood and Tunbridge Wells level on points at the top of the table.
Starting the day as lone league leaders, Lordswood visited St Lawrence and Highlands Court and were well beaten despite Calum Macleod’s 101. Joe Gordon notched 71 after opener Bradley Goldsack had scored 40 as their innings closed on 264 for 8. Pick of the bowlers was Sam Ireland with 4 for 36.
In their response, an opening stand of 66 was ended when Will Hilton fell for 30. Matt Hammond then joined Dan Stickels for a partnership of 119 before the other opener was dismissed for 88. Captain Hammond then guided his team through, finishing unbeaten on 99 as his team won by seven wickets with three and a half overs in hand.
Second placed Bromley also lost when they hosted Holmesdale and elected to field. After a first ball wicket, Dom May (72) was joined by Leo Carter (88) before Anthony Bissett’s 65 helped the visitors to close on 271 for 5.
That proved to be more than enough. After Fred Wilson had been dismissed for 39, Ollie Streets finished on 73 not out to ensure maximum batting points in a total of 208 for 9. The wickets were shared with four bowlers taking two.
Defeat for the top two allowed Tunbridge Wells, who also won the toss before opting to field, to take a share of top place. Opener Charlie-Sid Speller scored 51 not out for last season’s champions, before Matthew Golding scored 54 and Siraj Sajid 36. They both fell to the bowling of Chris Williams who finished with 3 for 53 as the innings closed on 247 for 7.
Williams then whacked a quick-fire 40 before Viraj Bhatia (94) and Drew Beazleigh (62) put on 136 for the second wicket. Although Arafat Bhuiyan returned figures of 3 for 37, he couldn’t stop the hosts from cruising home by six wickets with four overs to spare.
Teams occupying fifth and sixth places met when Bexley visited Minster. The hosts were keen to avenge their recent National Club Championship defeat and when Bexley were asked to bat first, only Vanun Anand put up resistance scoring 31. He was one of Max Luckett’s victims on his way to 3 for 43 before Noah McLennan went to work with 4 for 24 as the visitors were dismissed for 126.
Despite Fraser McWhinnie’s 3 for 39, Minster cruised to a seven wicket victory in under half of their allotted overs with Akhil Venugopalan finishing on 51 not out, and Kai Appleby 39 not out.
Sadly, Friday night’s storms meant that the match between Sandwich Town and Hayes was abandoned without a ball being bowled and the teams claimed nine points apiece.
Images courtesy of Keith Gillard