Month: August 2013

Eastry vs Nelson 11/08/13

Eastry lost the toss, which seemed to be a good one to lose, and were put into bat on a wicket that was sodden from a short but torrential rain shower half an hour before the game. Due to the heavy rain forecast for later in the day the two teams decided to play a limited overs game of 35 overs per team, with 7 overs per bowler. Toby Marriott and new comer Charlie Michaels opened the batting, and attempted to see off the new ball, which seemed to have a mind of its own, as it seamed, swung and the bounce varied erratically.
Toby Marriott was bowled for 4 after looking solid, however he received a peach of a delivery that hit the seam and swung in quickly. Ned Gleave joined Michaels at the crease put on a decent partnership, with runs flowing quickly, if not slightly unconventionally. On 30 Michaels was caught off of the bowling of Eden, Nelson’s Lillee/Jack Sparrow look a like, bringing the partnership of 64 to an end. Gleave was playing positively, looking to put the bowlers out of rhythm, however on 37 he chased the ball too much, and looped up a simple catch to the man at point. Eastry had declined from a respectable 77-1 to 83-3 with only 13 overs left, so the stand in captain Deveson tried to push on the run rate with big shots, hitting a quick fire 17 with the support of Dartnell at the other end, before Deveson drilled a straight drive over the bowlers head, which was well caught by deep mid off running round to his right. Dartnell was dismissed soon after for 14, and Tim Marriott and Pete Eastman picked up the run rate with boundary hitting, with Marriott picking up a quick 15 and Eastman accumulating a swift 19 with some nice looking shots. After a brief cameo of 10 from Jack woods in the final over Eastry eventually finished on 165-7 off of their 35 overs, which seemed to be a low, but defendable total on a wicket that had dried out rapidly in the sun and wind. Credit must be given to Duncan Cotton, who off his six overs had only 12 runs scored, and picked up 4 wickets, and had two opportunities for a hat trick.
Deveson struck early on, having Langridge caught for 2 runs by Gleave on a ball that was hit low to his right. The new batsmen Tom Christian decided offense was the best defence and surprised everyone as his second ball faced was a huge slog sweep that raced to the boundary, and then played the same shot a few balls later and sent the ball sailing over the pavilion, much to the annoyance of Deveson who went chuntering back to his marker. His reply was good however, as he trapped the batsmen in front of the stumps with a yorker, and Christian was dismissed LBW for a rapid 25.
Hill was able to get big in swing in the humid conditions and caused trouble for the batsmen, and as a result had Nelson’s dangerous opener Martin Christian caught at square leg for just 9 runs, before trapping Marc Eden in front of the stumps. Nelson were reeling at 51-6, but the game was by no means opener. Masoud Rangin and Duncan Cotton rallied the team, taking quick singles while dispatching the ball to the boundary frequently, which had the Eastry side desperate for a wicket. Ned Gleave was up to the challenge and was able to take the wicket of Rangin with an off cutter that jagged back into the batsman a long way, clattering into middle stump. The capacity Eastry crowd applauded the innings of Rangin, who had played superbly for his 37 and had put Nelson in a winning position of 103-7 with just under 10 overs remaining.
Eastry felt much more comfortable as Gleave took two more wickets in two balls, to leave him on hat trick ball against the number 11, the game’s third hat trick opportunity with Nelson’s Duncan Cotton having the opportunity twice earlier in the game. The ball was good however Shoobridge was up the the challenge and just managed to keep the ball out, much to the anguish of the Eastry players. Shoobridge and Cotton continued to score runs, and with 4 overs to go Nelson were at 146-9, needing a very getable five an over to win the match. However, in an attempt to get a run off of every ball, they chanced their luck on a ball that was hit straight to Gleave at cover, who zeroed in on the stumps and got a direct hit, running Shoobridge out by a yard. The pick of the bowlers was Gleave who after a turbulent season with the ball, picked up 4-23 off of his 7 overs, and also provided the game winning run out.

Matt Deveson – 12/08/2013

Eastry vs Chalfont St Peter 20/07/13

Touring side Chalfont St Peter from Buckinghamshire made the journey down to the garden of England to play Eastry on Saturday. The touring side, who claimed before the game that they were more experienced in the pub than on the cricket field, batted first on a cool and overcast day. Aaron Friend decided to take a break from getting all of Eastry’s runs and instead opened the bowling with David Waring. Both bowled economically on a pacey wicket, with Waring sending the second and third batsmen back to the pavilion for a duck. Chalfont sputtered to 45-4, not to the disappointment of the dismissed batsmen who decided that being back in the hutch was far more agreeable, as they could continue their mammoth drinking session! Arriving late, the touring side’s secret weapon, Neave, was unleashed on the spin bowling of Sumner and Eastman, thrashing huge shots to all corners of the ground. While Neave continued to play his shots, the opener Cottam resolutely stuck to his guns and provided the anchor of the innings, building up to a credible 48. In the 22nd over Neave played one shot too many on 36, and top edged a loopy, spinning catch to Betts, who snuffled it with ease. This started a swift collapse of the Chalfont St Peter innings as the remaining batsmen added just 12 runs for the remaining 5 wickets, resulting in the tourists finishing on 133 all out.
After tea there was a rare sighting of a double Deveson opening partnership as Kevin and Matt were sent out to chase down the low total. Much to the dismay of captain Phebey the two openers seemed content to just nurdle the ball around for singles, rather than crash the ball to the boundary, and indeed the skipper found himself hoping that Chalfont’s unused overs would be awarded to Eastry if we needed them. However, after the dismissal of Matt Deveson, who was clean bowled for 23, the run rate sped up as Waring and the remaining Deveson decided to deal in boundaries to finish the game. Deveson quickly sped to 79, hitting 14 4s in the process whilst Waring reached 22 in a dismissive show of dominance, as Eastry chased down the target with 18 overs to spare.

Matt Deveson – 22/07/2013

Eastry vs Alkham 17/07013

On Wednesday, the Midweek XI traveled to Alkham Valley for a T20 match. Eastry won the toss, and skipper Gareth Friend elected to field, putting the home team in on a seemingly erratic track. Friend’s suspicions were confirmed as the first over from Gleave saw balls viciously popping off of a length and troubling the batsmen greatly. Whilst pitch seemed to assist the bowlers, wickets were hard to come by and the Tomkins raced to 59, dispatching bowlers Deveson and Kenton with Ease to the tiny boundary. Indeed the first wicket did not come until the 17th over when Dawkins had Tomkies caught by Aaron Friend, and had Lee caught by Betts soon after for no score. The Alkham innings was steadied however by Foster who carried his bat for 62, leading the team to 158-3 off of 20 overs, with Eastry contributing a whopping 32 runs in extras.
Needing just under 8 an over to win the openers Friend and Betts went to the crease and created a sturdy base for Eastry to build on with both scoring 24 runs at a quick rate. However it soon became apparent why Alkham were not upset with batting first, as after the first 5 overs the sun began to set behind the bowlers arm, making batting almost impossible. Alkham harnessed the elements to their advantage, bowling as fast as possible to make the most of the glare. iIn the process Anderson took 3 wickets in one over, with Betts (24), A Friend (24) and then Gleave (0) all being bowled after swishing blindly at a seemingly ethereal ball. As the squinting subsided the new partnership of Matt Sear and Harry Kenton came to fruition as Kenton rekindled the run chase by hitting 30 off one over of Foster’s bowling, who appeared to be more than a little annoyed with the situation as he chuntered back to his marker. Kenton reached 56 before Foster had his revenge by catching Kenton at short cover (on the boundary) off the bowling of Hassan, with Matt “Bumsdale” Sear reaching his personal best of 11 runs to a rapturous applause, before also being bowled by Foster. It then fell to Dawkins and Eastman to finish the innings, and they did so comfortably with Dawkins blasting a quick 27 to seal a win with 7 balls to spare.

Matt Deveson – 19/07/2013