Scorecard

Newenden Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI v Castle Hill on Sun 21 May 2023 at 1.30pm
Newenden Cricket Club Lost by 4 wickets

Match report Newenden lost by 4 wickets ( Newenden 113 All Out, Jones 28, Patel 23, Morris 21, Castle Hill 117-6, Smith 3-35, Stone 2-24)

Man of the Match : Al ' Mini-Merv' Auger

Muhammad Ali one said ' You don't lose if you get knocked down, you lose if you stay down' and Newenden will certainly not be staying down after yesterday's mishap.

Losing is a rare experience at the NCG, but we got beat fair and square by a well-organised and competitive Castle Hill side.

Most of my reports are awash with superlatives on how well we have performed but yesterday was just a bad day at the office with few memorable moments on the field.

Things started well enough. Having won the toss and choosing to bat, Morris and Edwards had raced through to 36 from the first five overs, before the former top edged an attempted sweep to deep square leg. This lead to a cascade of wickets, with the next five batsmen all getting out playing reckless aerial shots that picked out the fielder. The only meaningful contribution being from Patel, who also fell into the trap as he attempted to clear the ropes. We suddenly found ourselves at 71-7.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man, and that man was Al 'Mini-Merv' Auger. We needed someone to stand up and show some grit and determination to get us to a total that we could bowl at and Merv knuckled down showing he was in no mood to give away his wicket. Ably supporting Ian Jones, the pair put on 40 much needed runs, by hitting the bad balls and defending the good ones. Jones finally fell for a courageous 28, after being trapped plumb in front, then Auger went the next over. It was a valiant effort, reminiscent of Atherton in the Johannesburg test of 1995.

We managed to scramble a couple more runs for the final wicket, but ended up on a below-par 113 all out.

Now, here come the superlatives. Oh my god, what a tea. This week it was the turn of Christian Kutner and Ben Browning (well I say that loosely as their beautiful other halves Kajsa and Florence shouldered most of the burden). It was the girl's first tea at the club and it certainly won't be their last, as they laid on one of the most wonderful spreads to ever grace the NCG.

We had an array of superb sandwiches and rolls, my personal favourite being the pate ones. We then had homemade quiches and sausage rolls, satay chicken skewers, followed by delicious crab cups and brie & pancetta filo parcels. There was even a Swedish crisp bread with prawns and caviar. Then the cakes, well what can I say about the cakes. They were absolutely magnificent. All homemade, but looked like they had come straight from Fortnum's. One had even been inscribed with 'NCC Tea Winners 2023' . I don't think they will be far wrong. A superb effort, thank you.

The cricket became a bit of an anti-climax after the event of the tea, but we took to the field hoping for a miracle.

Things started well with Smith grabbing two early wickets, but this seemed to kick their opener into gear and he took the game to us. He started to smash the ball to all parts, he was going at such a speed I hear he has been asked to join Suella Braverman on her personal speed awareness course.

We continued to take wickets at the other end, with Stone chipping in with a couple, but by the time we got their aggressor out the damage was done, as Castle Hill came home victorious.

Though we lost, it was a great day out, we enjoy playing the Castle Hill boys, the games are always played in the right spirit.

Next week we return to league action, let's hope I will be reporting on a very different result.

Newenden Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
2w 8b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
11
113		        
Philip Morris ct Unsure b P Dall'occo 21 20 4 105.00
Dan Edwards ct Unsure b P Dall'occo 15 17 3 88.24 1
Charlie Harker ct Unsure b C Gilchrist-Fisher 1 5 20.0
James Yeabsley ct Unsure b P Dall'occo 5 4 1 125.00 1
Ben Browning ct Unsure b P Dall'occo 4 3 1 133.33
Chirag Patel ct Unsure b P Dall'occo 23 24 4 95.83
Ben Gibbs b P Dall'occo 0 3 0 1
Ian Jones lbw B Hall 28 49 5 57.14
Alan Auger b A Caldwell 5 34 1 14.71
Garry Smith b B Hall 0 4 0 1
Alex Stone Not Out  0

Castle Hill Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Chris Gilchrist-Fisher8.1042142.005.14
Paul Dall'occo8.013465.674.25
Andrew Caldwell6.1018118.002.92
Ben Hall5.121025.001.94

Castle Hill Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
3w 4b 1lb 
for 6 wickets
8
117 (20.1 overs)		     
Matthew Davis ct B Gibbs b C Patel 71 54 15 131.48
Michael Smith lbw G Smith 1 8 12.50
Neil Anderson ct J Yearsby b G Smith 4 10 1 40.0
Ben Mondy ct G Smith b G Smith 6 15 1 40.0
Ed Treliving b A Stone 0 4 0
Rory Donald ct D Edwards b A Stone 9 9 2 100
Simon Slater Not Out  14 17 3 82.35
Andrew Caldwell Not Out  4 5 1 80.0
Chris Gilchrist-Fisher  
Paul Dall'occo  
Ben Hall  

Newenden Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Dan Edwards3.002000.006.67
Garry Smith7.0235311.675.00
Ian Jones3.001900.006.33
Alex Stone4.0024212.006.00
Chirag Patel3.0014114.004.67
Charlie Harker0.10000.000.00

  • Umpire :
  • Scorer :
    Sophie James