Myself and Claire went to Canterbury for the 1st day of this county championship match. For a change we had no rain.
Kent won the toss and put Worcestershire into bat, here are some pictures from the day.
Category: Cricket
Cricket
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Week 77 – September 5th – Kent v Worcestershire at Canterbury part 1
Kent final catching warm up before starting the match. Daryl Mitchell facing Tom Fell at the non-strikers end. The legend that is Darren Stevens bowling. -
Week 77 – September 4th – Speldhurst II v Bidborough III
Speldhurst II 109 in 39.1 overs (Ben Harrison 39, Josh Patterson 6-0-27-2, 8.2-1-10-4) lost to Bidborough III 110-3 in 17.1 overs (H Whitehouse 32, Clint Hillhouse 33, James Roche 5-0-27-2) by 7 wickets.
The final-week showdown with Bidborough. Unfortunately, we had only our blushes to save having been mathematically relegated the previous weekend.
Furthermore, Bidborough still had a very slim chance of survival so whilst availability dictated we had just the 10 players, Bidborough had (understandably) done some shuffling around of their player pool to field a very strong 11.
Batting first seemed like a good option and Tristan Price and James Roche repelled a very good opening pair. Unfortunately a lack of communication stranded both in the middle of the pitch trying to steal a run – James was the unfortunate soul to trudge (very slowly) back to the changing room.
The going was slow throughout. Resistance came in the form of Skipper Harrison (39) and Adam Nash (19), but we were eventually bowled out for 109.
With wickets needed quickly, unconventional field setting was the sensible (and most entertaining) option. Having got to 30 very quickly, exemplary bowling and fielding grabbed us 3 wickets for 3 runs.
The cat was then firmly amongst the Bidborough pigeons. But after weathering a challenging 10 overs, the batsman cut loose and got to 109 relatively quickly.
Top opening spells from Nash and Roche were the highlights, and did what every 2nd XI player has done all season: made their Skipper proud.
I managed to make 2 before being bowled.
I’m not sure how we ended up being relegated with the players we have, but we did. Hopefully were bounce back next year.
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Week 76 – August 28th – Sissinghurst CC II v Speldhurst CC II
Sissinghurst CC II 162-9 in 40 overs (Colin Jenkins 34, Andrew Knowler 64, Harry Dunmall 9-0-33-2, James Roche 9-2-15-4) beat Speldhurst CC II 154 in 39.5 overs (Harry Dunmall 39, Ben Harrison 56, Colin Jenkins 9-2-19-2, Gary Nutbourne 9-1-22-3, Michael Winner 7.5-0-43-3, Kieran Martin 6-1-23-2) by 8 runs.
Our opposition took the wise decision to bat first on a flat looking track which had yielded runs all year.
Opening bowlers Skipper and Harry Dunmall (2-33) struggled to hold the door as they were greeted by a pre-disgruntled opening batsman, who clearly had frustration to expel. But at 50-0 from seven overs, we took 3-6 in the next five. Game on.
Very tidy middle overs from Mark Flemington and Paul Eames, two fantastic catches from Iqbal Sidhu, and an astonishing spell of death bowling from James Roche (4-15 from 9 overs) and Dunmall were the highlights. In the end, 162-9 understated what was our best bowling and fielding performance of the year.
Our batting, however, suffered from the same affliction as always. The top order struggled to score against tidy opening bowling, and when the first change offered little rest-bite we found ourselves 63-6 with just 15 overs left.
A 50 partnership from Harrison (56) and Dunmall (39) took it deep, but we lost Dunmall with 43 still to win from 36 balls.
New man Mark Thorpe was caught valiantly swinging the bat. Mr Eames ran like a maniac for several overs (including a two to short mid-wicket!) But 20 from the final over was too many, and we fell eight runs short.
It was probably my best day in the field and I was 0 not out with the brilliant innings from the skipper Ben.
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Week 75 – August 21st – Men hundred final
For the men’s final we were joined by two people Tom plays football with. Good guys.
Considering my feelings for this version of cricket, it was an enjoyable day out.
Two captains waiting to go and do the coin toss, James Vince and Moeen Ali 
Paul Stirling marking out his crease. 
Paul Stirling on driving Adam Milne ( quickest bowler I’ve seen life since Devon Malcolm) Southern Brave 168-5 in 100 balls (Stirling 61 (36), Whiteley 44* (19)) beat Birmingham Phoenix 136-5 in 100 balls (Livingstone 46 (19)) by 32 runs.
Southern Brave were crowned the first men’s Hundred champions after beating Birmingham Phoenix by 32 runs in an action-packed Lord’s final.
Chasing 169, Phoenix’s Liam Livingstone thrashed 46 from 19 balls, animating a raucous Lord’s crowd with an effortless flow of boundaries, before the game swung in dramatic and unlikely fashion.
Tim David, only brought into the Brave’s squad earlier this week, ran out Livingstone with a 60m direct hit from the deep – the in-form Livingstone agonisingly inches short.
Birmingham still needed another 99 from 55 balls and Brave’s impressive bowling attack closed out the game expertly to make the winning margin far greater than looked likely at one stage.
Teacher-turned-Hundred star Jake Lintott had Moeen Ali caught for 36 from 30 balls.
Ireland international Paul Stirling earlier hit 61 from 36 balls for the Brave before Ross Whiteley’s crucial 44 not out from 19 balls lifted them to 168-5.
Thank you again Tom for arranging this event for me. ?
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Week 75 – August 21st – Women hundred final part 2
Oval Invincibles 121-6 in 100 balls (Van Niekerk 26 (29), Kapp 26 (14), Bell 2-24) beat Southern Brave 73 all out in 98 balls (Morris 23 (26); Kapp 4-9) by 48 runs.
Oval Invincibles stormed to an emphatic 48-run victory over favourites Southern Brave to become the first women’s Hundred champions on a historic afternoon at Lord’s.
After setting a target of 122, the Invincibles bowled out the Brave for just 73 in a perfect bowling performance.
Marizanne Kapp took three wickets in the first 10 balls – the Brave’s top three batters all out without scoring.
And with a 17,116-strong crowd watching on – a record for a women’s domestic match anywhere in the world – the frantic start continued when Fran Wilson’s brilliant throw ran out Maia Bouchier.
Brave, who cruised through the group stages with seven wins from eight, had no answer to the fired-up Invincibles and subsided to a miserable defeat on the biggest of occasions.
Kapp, who also scored 26 in the Invincibles’ 121-6, took the final wicket and looked in disbelief before she was lifted into the air by her wife Dane van Niekerk, the Invincibles’ masterful, inspirational captain.
Mist goes across the pitch during the final first ball bowled by Anya Shrubbole 
The losing team Southern Brave come over for the presentations 
Applauding the winning team Oval Invincibles 
Oval Invincibles in front of the photographers. -
Week 75 – August 21st – Women hundred final part 1
I’m not a fan of this version of cricket, but this was a gifted from my former colleagues and friends at Quest for the redundancy that occurred last year.
Of course modern technology, one moment I had the tickets on my phone and the next moment not, but with the help of the cricket helpers outside the ground, we got this sorted via a part of Lords that I have never seen.
Thank you Tom for arranging this. We had good seats in the Compton stand. Considering the weather this day, the game actually started on time, yes we have been hit by rain again.
Women teams warming up on a wet miserable day. 
BBC commentary team, Isa Guha, Heather Knight (current England captain) and Alex Hartley. 
Father Time. -
Week 75 – August 21st – Father-Time wall
Another post that will require you to login to see.
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Week 73 – August 8th – Kent v Hampshire Royal London Cup
Can you believe it? Another miserable day for cricket. We arrived at the ground (Beckenham) and sat in the car for at least 3 hours before stepping outside and finally taking our seats.
Play didn’t start until 14:30, should have started at 11:00. I said to Claire that if it rained again, we would go home.
Not surprisingly Hampshire won the toss and put Kent in, but openers Tawanda Muyeye and Ollie Robinson gave a good start against attack including former international bowler Kyle Abbott (bowled with some good pace), until Tawanda Muyeye was bowled by John Turner for 24.
Looking to our right, we could see a huge dark cloud moving in, so we moved to the car and just as we reached it, the rain poured down, so as agreed we left. With Kent 70 for 4 in 14.2 overs.
Amazingly the rain stopped and they went back out, but Kent were convincingly beaten by 6 wickets in reduced 24 over match.
This was after the Saturday match for Speldhurst II was cancelled, this summer is miserable. ?
Ollie Robinson taking guard. 
Ollie Robinson pushes forward. I like when you can see the ball in the picture. -
Week 72 – July 26th – Week 2 of lockdown ending
Speldhurst II 149-8 in 35 overs (James Flemington 51, Arthur Plunkett 45, Nicholas Scott 6-2-24-2, Scott Conway 3-0-15-2) drew with Penshurst Park II 40-1 in 10 overs
Another wet weekend was promised as the 2s hosted Penshurst – top of the league, and responsible for our infamous 29 all out earlier this season. With sweet revenge on our minds, and a shortened game of 35 overs per side agreed, our openers calmly negotiated the opening bowlers to leave us 63-0 from 18 overs – not many times this season has our number six batsman been able to umpire overs 10-20, without having already batted!
When wickets did fall, they fell in neat batches of three, but this did not distract from two classy knocks: 51 from James Flemington, which lifted him coolly to the summit of the 2s top run-scorers list, and a brutal 46 (26 balls) from Arthur Plunkett which saw him try to hit most deliveries into his own back garden!
I managed to make 3 not out at the end of the innings.
With 149 on the board, we knew we were in with a good shout. SCC newbie Gary Humble acquitted himself excellently in his first three overs for the club, conceding just four runs. His next four balls however, saw him pick up an arm injury and then go for 17! In the end just 10 overs of tight bowling and fielding were managed by a high-energy, high-quality Speldhurst side hell-bent on retribution!
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Week 72 – July 26th – Week 2 of lockdown ending
We went to the county ground at Beckenham to see Kent v Lancashire in the Royal London one day cup. This was the first time I had been to ground to watch a match and I could show Claire where I did my ECB coach training from earlier in the year.
As seems to be the case for us this year, the rain followed us and we only saw 14.5 overs of cricket.
Lancashire had reached 71 without loss when play was halted by a downpour at 12.02, with Josh Bohannon 39 not out and Keaton Jennings unbeaten on 24. Kent’s Darren Stevens had bowled six overs for just 11.
The legend that is Darren Stevens during warm up 
Darren Stevens ready to run in to bowl 
Nice take by Ollie Robinson down the leg side pass Keaton Jennings. 
Is Keaton going to lift his foot up?
