Scorecard

Linton Park v Newenden Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI on Sun 28 May 2023 at 1.30pm
Newenden Cricket Club Lost by 1 wicket

Match report Newenden lost by 1 wicket ( Newenden 220-8, Parr 103, Bourne 47, Linton Park 221-9, Smith 3-41, Bradney 2-45, Edwards 2-52)

Man of the Match : Mike Parr

This week we learnt of the sad loss of legendary songstress Tina Turner, and as hard as we tried, we fell agonisingly short of being The Best.

Having won our first two league games, we were starting to think this Division One lark was alright, well we were reminded what a cruel game cricket can be on Sunday.

We turned up at the beautiful Linton Park ground, set high up with stunning views down over the Weald, full of optimism that we could make it three in a row.

Our side was loaded with quality batsmen, but we were missing three of our regular first team bowlers, so it was a great relief that having lost the toss the opposition put us in to bat. Things started well with Parr and Edwards racing through to 36 before the latter snicked off behind. This brought Bourne to the crease and this is where we really started to take a grip on the game,

Linton Park is a huge playing surface where boundaries are at a premium, so you have to be up for working hard for your runs, and my word these two worked hard. Running like stags, they started to pile on the runs, you could almost hear Bourne's knee creaking as he made it through for consecutive threes. But We Don't Need Another Hero (can you see what I'm doing here?) when you have Mike Parr. He posted his second consecutive ton and the pair had put on 133 when he finally fell, chipping one to mid off. As is often the way after a long partnership, we then started to lose wickets at regular intervals, starting with Bourne, who was swiftly followed back to the hutch by Browning leaving us 182-4 with ten overs left.

Bellhouse showed some resilience, and some good running at the end took us through to a solid 220-8 from our allocation.

We knew we would have to bowl well to defend this total and we couldn't have got off to a better start, with Edwards taking two wickets in consecutive balls in his first over. Linton Park then dug in, their knowledge of how to play this large field started to show, as they were placing the ball excellently and turning ones into twos. Smith then turned the game on its head, snatching three quick wickets, leaving the opposition precariously positioned at 68-5.

We knew we had limited bowling resources but we were on the front foot, so we went for broke, but the game started to change. The Linton Park lower order had nothing to lose and started to score freely, helped by some pretty average fielding at times. With us being so used to the compact Newenden field, we tend to struggle on larger surfaces, and our lack of mobility was exploited well.

Bradney and Parr managed to nick a wicket each leaving them 126-7, but the momentum really shifted when their number nine came to the middle. He could strike the ball and took a particular liking to Parr.

Kutner was then introduced from the top end and he was to break the partnership, with the batsmen chipping to Parr at mid wicket leaving them 171-8 with seven overs to play. This was getting tense.

We still had to get out their dangerous number nine, who continued to take the attack to our bowlers with the target ever-shrinking.

Bradney then returned and finally got his man, with Sloan, who was truly exceptional, taking a superb caught behind. This left them needing 12 runs from the last three overs and us just needing to take the final wicket.

Kutner was unable to make the breakthrough in the penultimate over from which they scored seven runs, which left it to Bradney to defend three runs or take out their last man. Two consecutive dot balls, suddenly made it very interesting, but his third was struck well and it cleared the boundary. Linton Park had won.

It was an absolutely gutting way to lose a cricket match, I can't remember the last time I left a field feeling so dejected. I can only liken it to being Philp Schofield's agent.

In hindsight, it was a great game of cricket, and this is why we want to compete at the top level.

I would have loved to have won, but What's Love Got To Do With It.

Newenden Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 3w 2b 3lb 
for 8 wickets
9
220		        
Mike Parr ct A Karassellos b T Beeney 103 94 6 109.57 1
Dan Edwards ct A Hughes b L Welsman 17 17 3 100 1
Jonathan Bourne ct T Beeney b L Welsman 47 76 2 61.84 1
Ben Browning ct A Hughes b L Welsman 8 10 1 80.0 1
Mike Bellhouse ct J Mufti b A Karassellos 20 23 1 86.96
Jasper Piper b A Karassellos 7 7 1 100
Philip Morris ct A Hughes b T Castle 2 3 66.67
Harry Bradney Not Out  6 5 120.0
Christian Kutner b A Karassellos 0 2 0
Charlie Sloan Not Out  1 4 25.00 3
Garry Smith  

Linton Park Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Anthony Karassellos7.0042314.006.00
Luke Welsman9.0037312.334.11
Tobey Castle7.0033133.004.71
Martin Harris9.005400.006.00
Thomas Beeney8.0049149.006.12

Linton Park Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 7w 7b 9lb 
for 9 wickets
24
222 (39.3 overs)		     
Jordan Austin b D Edwards 0 1 0
Aaron Hughes b G Smith 22 20 4 110.0
Junaid Mufti ct C Sloan b D Edwards 0 1 0
Tobey Castle ct B Browning b G Smith 38 34 6 111.76
Nick Tromp ct J Bourne b G Smith 0 3 0
Toby Joseph ct C Sloan b M Parr 22 42 2 52.38
Luke Welsman ct D Edwards b H Bradney 26 36 5 72.22
Anthony Karassellos ct M Parr b C Kutner 31 48 3 64.58
Thomas Beeney ct C Sloan b H Bradney 44 34 6 129.41
Darrell Houghton-Judge Not Out  9 14 1 64.29
Martin Harris Not Out  6 5 1 120.0

Newenden Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Dan Edwards9.0052226.005.78
Garry Smith9.0141313.674.56
Harry Bradney8.3145222.505.29
Mike Parr9.0049149.005.44
Christian Kutner4.0019119.004.75

  • Umpire :
  • Scorer :
    Sophie James