Scorecard

Newenden Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI v Rolvenden CC on Sun 22 Aug 2021 at 1:30pm
Newenden Cricket Club Won by 3 runs

Match report Date : 22/08/2021

Venue : NCG

Result : Newenden won by 3 runs ( Newenden 140 All Out, Russell-Vick 31, Rolvenden 137 All Out Bradney 3-24, Smith 2-20, R Collingwood 2-32, F Piper 2-33)

Man of the Match : Harry Bradney

What an absolutely belting game of cricket.

Last Sunday saw the first league game to be played at the NCG this summer and what a game it turned out to be.

Guy had prepared a magnificent playing surface with the outfield looking so good we have put in a tender to take over from the Crucible as host of the World Snooker Championship for 2022. How he does it is a mystery, as the ground was under water only two weeks ago.

This game required no introduction as we have long had it circled in the calendar as the key match of the league season.There had been a lot of pre-match chat but now it was time to let the cricket do the talking.

Having lost the toss we were put into bat, which is what we would have done anyway. In the absence of 'Boom Boom' Edwards and his partner in crime Patel, we had a new opening pair in Russell-Vick and Morris.Things started well with the score moving through to 42 for no loss from the first ten overs. Rolvenden's attack was the best we had faced all season by a long way and they were testing the batsmen from both ends. They got their breakthrough when Morris missed a swinging delivery and was trapped LBW. Bourne came to the crease and was greeted by a barrage of bouncers which certainly kept him honest.Having survived the symphony of chin music Bourne was relieved to see them bring on a spinner, unfortunately this relief was short lived as he chipped up a simple caught and bowled.

Browning came out and looked in control as he and Russell-Vick took us through to 80 before he too was trapped LBW by their returning opening bowler who had switched ends. This switch was to pay off handsomely as he ripped through the rest of our order. Collingwood, Gitteridge Jnr and Finn Piper offered a little resistance but wickets were falling regularly and we were unable to build any meaningful partnerships. Smith was the last man to fall leaving us on a well below par 140 all out.

After a rousing Churchillian speech we took to the field knowing that we needed to take early wickets to sow that seed of doubt in the Rolvenden batting order. If they were able to bat the 40 overs they would win, we had to hunt as a pack and build a pressure cooker atmosphere that would see them crumble.

Finn Piper had certainly got the message as he dismissed their dangerous opener in his second over, then Collingwood dismissed their number three following a diving one-handed catch by Morris at silly mid on. A Morris catch is rarer than rocking horse dung, so suddenly we thought this may just be our day.

Bradney then began a game-changing spell from the top end and it was to prove to be pivotal on the game. He cleaned up their skipper in his first over, then dried up the runs as Rolvenden tried to regroup. They were edging towards their target, but the run rate was creeping up. The ball was thrown to Smith and as always he delivered exactly what the team needed. He trapped both their set batsmen LBW in consecutive overs and suddenly there was an air of panic on the opposition benches.

We had to maintain the pressure as one good partnership would undo all the good work. Bradney then picked up two quick wickets, which included another one-handed catch by Morris (yes you read that correctly) and a superb diving take from Gutteridge Jnr. We had them on the ropes.

Finn Piper and Collingwood returned to bowl out their allocations.It started well with Collingwood having his man caught in the deep by Russell-Vick, then Piper castled their number nine. We were so close now we could almost taste it, they were 106-9.

This is where there was a sudden shift. Their number ten threw caution to the wind and started smashing Piper and Collingwood to the boundary, their last man was supporting him well and they had got through to 130 with three overs to go. The skipper took the bold move of withdrawing Piper from the attack and throwing the ball to the unused Browning. It required a man with sizeable minerals to bowl this over and that is what he had.

The first ball was smashed over extra cover for four, then they ran a two, followed by a quick single. Suddenly they only needed four to win from 15 balls. Browning bowled his fourth delivery, they drove the ball to Jasper Piper at cover and started to run. Piper swooped on the ball, and launched the perfect throw to Gibbs behind the stumps who did the rest. We had done it. We had pulled off one of the most amazing victories in recent times. It truly was snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

The scenes of jubilation from the players and the fully engaged crowd will live long in the memory.

Well done to the team and Rolvenden, it was a joy to be involved in such a memorable match.

The day got a little better when we discovered that Kingsnorth had also lost, which meant that we are now the only team that remains unbeaten in the league. Let's hope we can stay that way when we play our final league game against Walmer on September 5th. Go the Newenden Invincibles.

Click on the link below to see the current league table. Back where we belong.

Newenden Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 17w 16b 5lb 
for 10 wickets
39
140		        
Charlie Russell-Vick ct N Stickels b B Cuddihee 31 2
Philip Morris lbw B Cuddihee 14 2
Jonathan Bourne ct B Hildebrand b B Hildebrand 15
Ben Browning lbw N Stickels 9
Jasper Piper b H Pack 0
Reuben Collingwood ct S Stickels b B Hildebrand 15
Ben Gibbs b H Pack 0
Harry Gutteridge b H Pack 8 1
Harry Bradney b H Pack 0
Finn Piper Not Out  9
Garry Smith ct O Zaman b S Stickels 0

Rolvenden CC Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Steven Stickels6.5314114.002.05
Harrison Pack9.032947.253.22
Benjamin Cuddihee5.0022211.004.40
Nick Stickels6.0030130.005.00
Brent Hildebrand8.0224212.003.00

Rolvenden CC Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
3b 2lb 
for 10 wickets
5
137 (38.0 overs)		     
James Hamilton ct C Russell-Vick b F Piper 14
Nick Stickels Not Out  24
Fred Smith ct P Morris b R Collingwood 1
Steven Stickels b H Bradney 16
Ben Larkin lbw F Piper 12
Osman Zaman b F Piper 8
Benjamin Cuddihee run out  (J Piper) 11
Brent Hildebrand ct P Morris b H Bradney 6
Omar Zaman ct C Russell-Vick b R Collingwood 5
Ross Antrem ct H Gutteridge b H Bradney 1
Harrison Pack lbw G Smith 32

Newenden Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Finn Piper8.0333311.004.13
Reuben Collingwood8.0032216.004.00
Charlie Russell-Vick3.001600.005.33
Harry Bradney9.032438.002.67
Garry Smith9.0220120.002.22
Ben Browning1.00700.007.00