Scorecard

Newenden Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI v Borstal on Sun 02 Jul 2023 at 1.30pm
Newenden Cricket Club Won by 6 wickets

Match report Newenden won by 6 wickets ( Borstal 190 All Out, Bradney 3-34, Parr 2-22, F Piper 2-49, Newenden 191-4, Parr 72, Greig 62)

Man of the Match : Mike Parr (a reluctant choice after turning up nearly an hour late)

Forget 'Just Stop Oil', this season is rapidly turning into a case of 'Just Stop Newenden', as we secured another convincing victory against one of our closest rivals.

As we turned up to an immaculate NCG,we knew that only a win would do to consolidate our position at the top of the table. Our opponents for the day were Borstal who had beaten previous table-toppers Harbeldown the week before, so we knew we were in for a tough game.

After a spate of last-minute drop outs from key players, one down to having to shear sheep, which is a first, we knew that we had to perform to our best and execute our strategy to the letter. But as they say a team is more than the sum of its parts and we have a knack of delivering when we need it most.

The first objective was to win the toss which we duly did and opted to bowl.

Things couldn't have started better, with Finn Piper producing an absolute beauty first ball to smash the leg stump of their opener straight out of the ground. Game on.

Guy has obviously been watching a lot of the Indian Premier League and has started to produce wickets that would be more at home in Chennai than the Garden of England. This has coincided with the return to bowling duties of Mike Bellhouse after an unfortunate incident on a boogie board in Cornwall. Bellhouse took the first over from the Pavilion End and was getting the ball to rip. He could have had his man three times in as many balls, catching the edge twice and then being put down by Greig at Long On, which was a collector's item as he has one of the safest pairs of hands in the club.

Bortsal continued to live dangerously, with several hard chances going down, but the next wicket was an unusual one. The ball was played down to Bourne at backward point, he dived to stop it but the ball got stuck under his body. The batsmen started to run, but then suddenly saw he had grabbed it and was shaping to throw at the stumps. Bourne then casually lobbed the ball back underarm, Alex Carey style, but the batsmen didn't know whether to stick or twist as the ball gently rolled onto the stumps running out the standing batter.

Smith then took over at the bottom end and trapped their dangerous looking number 4 plumb in front after having a similar appeal turned down first ball. He was bowling in tandem with Bradney, who was working his way into a wonderful spell. He is fast becoming the most dependable of our league bowlers, both in terms of wickets and economy. He soon dismissed their captain, with Bourne pouching a sharp chance at point.

Bellhouse then returned from the Lossenham Lane end to finish his spell and had the opposition batsmen in all sorts of trouble, picking up a good caught and bowled in the process.

Parr was then introduced for a short spell, which yielded two wickets, including a superb slip catch by Bellhouse.

Bradney and Piper then came back to mop up the tail, with Bradney picking up two wickets with his last two balls, both caught by Parr in the deep. Piper finished things off by clean bowling their last man, leaving Borstal on a competitive but very gettable 190 all out.

This week's tea was provided by the lovely Joy Rummery and what a cracker it was too. Joy always lays on a proper traditional cricket tea and this year's was the best yet.



We were treated to a vast selection of beautiful sandwiches, including ham and mustard, tuna and cucumber and my personal favourite, cheese and pickle.There were some delicious sausage rolls, egg mayo and crispy bacon French stick bites and glorious BBQ chicken pizza slices. There were so many beautiful cakes, we had multi-coloured cupcakes, a Victoria sandwich, a chocolate cake and the quintessential cream and jam scones. Then all topped off with some perfectly ripe Kentish cherries and palate cleansing slices of honeydew melon. It was perfect. Thank you Joy.

Never easy starting the chase after such a wonderful tea, and I think this was reflected in the first few overs as Parr and Greig set about our target. Borstal had a very decent bowling unit, and our openers took a little time to adjust to the deck.

They then began to kick into gear, and we had cruised through to 105 before Greig fell tamely, chipping one up to point, but he had done his job scoring a very solid 62, taking his league average up over 40.

Parr was joined by Bourne, as he continued to go through the gears, taking the score through to 150. Then came barbeque season, as Bourne pushed the ball to point and Parr called him through for a run. Bourne was not interested, but Parr kept coming so Bourne set-off but it was too late as the bowler gathered and ran him out. The batsmen exchanged a handshake as Bourne departed, but I should imagine it was about as well received as Emmanuel Macron turning up at an Elton John concert.

Parr was obviously effected by the run out and decided to make peace with JB by getting out two balls later. Suddenly there was a little jangle of nerves, as Jasper Piper fell shortly after leaving us at 165-4. But there was no cause for alarm as the unflappable Bellhouse was there to take us home assisted by Finn Piper.

It was another win and another step towards our end goal.

The tests keep on coming as we take on Harbeldown in a couple of weeks who currently sit second. Every game is a cup final now.

Borstal Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
8w 10b 2lb 
for 10 wickets
20
190 (39.3 overs)		     
David Round b  F Piper 0
Matthew Fisher ct  J Bourne b H Bradney 31
Lewis Allan run out  (J Bourne) 15
Sanath Dandeniya lbw  G Smith 34
Luke Butcher ct  J Greig b M Parr 47
Nathan Dandeniya ct  M Bellhouse b M Bellhouse 0
Mohammed Azhar ct  M Bellhouse b M Parr 4
Andy Routledge ct  M Parr b H Bradney 23
Josh Wasseff b  F Piper 15
Sama Armani ct  M Parr b H Bradney 0
Bailey Reeves Not Out  1

Newenden Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Finn Piper8.3149224.505.76
Mike Bellhouse9.0236136.004.00
Garry Smith9.0337137.004.11
Harry Bradney9.0234311.333.78
Mike Parr4.0022211.005.50

Newenden Cricket Club Sunday 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 5w 6b 2lb 
for 4 wickets
14
191		        
Mike Parr ct  N Dandeniya b J Wasseff 76 2
Jack Greig ct  J Wasseff b L Allan 62 1
Jonathan Bourne run out  (Unsure) 7 1
Mike Bellhouse Not Out  16 2
Jasper Piper ct  S Dandeniya b B Reeves 8
Finn Piper Not Out  8
Philip Morris  
Christian Kutner  
Charlie Sloan  
Harry Bradney  
Garry Smith  

Borstal Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Mohammed Azhar9.002600.002.89
Andy Routledge3.003000.0010.00
Luke Butcher3.002100.007.00
Bailey Reeves4.0031131.007.75
Sama Armani7.012700.003.86
Lewis Allan2.0031131.0015.50
Josh Wasseff3.3017117.004.86