Sevenoaks Vine once again braved some soggy weather conditions and made the trip down to the coast to play another side who had started the league season strongly.
Losing the toss the Vine were inserted and despite losing Ben Price early, league veteran John Bowden and bowling all rounder Chris Vernon started to set about building a total. Vernon had moved to 35 before sticking a pull shot down deep mid wicket’s throat which started the comeback for Sandwich.
Bowden continued to show his 40 years of league experience holding the innings together making his way to 35 before falling to off spinner Ben Smith, who finished with 3-33.
Evert Bekker and Michael Cowdrey added 35 and 21 respectively, but after the partnership was broken, the rest of the Vine tail fell tamely, with the innings ending on 155.
Two early wickets from the whippy Vernon (2-21) had the Vine in control, but Zack Fagg 26 and Tom Chapman 60 not out left Sandwich in charge. Ageing slow bowler Karl Pearson (1-27) had Fagg removed LBW and when left arm spinner Andrew Reid Dick, inspired by a pending American love story (1-21) removed Alex Smith, the Vine had a glimmer of hope.
However rain and hail of epic proportions meant a CEAT tyres timeout and consequently bringing an early end to proceedings with Sandwich winning via the Duckworth Lewis method. Disappointing result for the Vine and will be looking to get back to winning ways on the Vine this Saturday against Bexley.
Sevenoaks Vine 2nd (252/8) v Sandwich Town 2nd (54/2) was incomplete
Overnight rain meant a delayed start for the 2nd XI as they hosted Sandwich Town. Losing the toss and being sent into bat, the visitors made an excellent start removing captain Cyrus White cheaply for 9, as well as other opener Guy Bevan-Thomas for 16 the following over. This brought the in form Tom Harvey to the crease alongside former First Class cricketer Will House. The experienced pair saw off the opening bowlers and looked to tuck in against the less disciplined spinners and medium pacers. House would race to a run a ball 50, ably supported by Harvey who happily played second fiddle. At the half way stage, the Vine had reached 116-2 off. Harvey would fall for 44 soon after drinks and here on in, it would be the House show as the ball was dispatched to all parts of the ground. House would be rewarded with scoring his hundred in the 41st over with his son Harry at the other end. Handy contributions from Ben Anderson and Arj Sharma would allow House to play with great freedom before eventually falling for 125 from 115 balls, an innings that included twelve 4’s and two 6s. Cameos from the tail would mean the Vine would finish their 50 overs with an excellent score of 252-8.
Full of confidence, the Vine would emerge from the changing rooms knowing early wickets would leave them in good shape to come away with the 18 points. Tom Harvey was rewarded with a spell of aggressive bowling with the key wicket of Captain Craig Snell, who edged behind to Will House for 16. Henry Smith on his 2nd XI league debut at the other end bowled with great discipline and was unlucky to not be rewarded for his efforts. As the rain began to fall, history would repeat itself as Harvey had Finley Beamen edging behind for 16, also caught by Will House. With only one more ball bowled, the game was abandoned with the visitors 54-2.
The Vine can take great confidence in their batting performance in what was a difficult wicket early doors. Next up, a trip to title challengers Bexley.
Highlights from the game can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWs_fHKie9E
Sevenoaks Vine 3rd (91/6) beat Oakfield Warriors (90 all out)
Sevenoaks Vine 3rd travelled to Bexley to play Oakfield Warriors and elected to field as the wicket looked like it would be hard for batting. This assessment proved correct with runs proving very hard to come by. Monty Thompson and Will Gough-Cooper opened the bowling picking up a wicket each before Carl Nightingale produced an excellent spell of seam bowling taking 4-19 leaving Oakfield on 63-6 with Tom Edge having pouched a couple of very good catches in the covers to help the bowlers. Andrew Blincoe on his debut bowled well before a few loose deliveries allowed Oakfield to move up to 90-6. Andrew then removed the last four batsman in his next four deliveries to wrap up the innings in spectacular fashion.
The Vine reply followed a very similar pattern with runs still hard to come by. Steve Bezuidenhout , Andy Akerman ,Will Peters and Tom Edge all came and went cheaply whilst Dave Carr looked to have got in before he too went for 15 leaving the match in the balance with the score at 41-5. Hugo Tudor and Matt Wilson then steadied the ship and seemed to be taking the team towards victory until Tudor ran out Wilson for a well made 23 with 20 still needed. With luck on their side Tudor (21 not out) and Carl Nightingale (5 not out) got the required 20 and the Vine 3rd XI won by 4 wickets.
Sevenoaks Vine U15 (172/2) beat Linton Park (95/5)
The Prem. side were away to Linton Park , a lovely ground with an excellent wicket. Henry won the toss and elected to bat, with the side posting a formidable total of 172/2 from the 25 overs. This was especially impressive as it was a full-size ground with a very slow outfield, given recent rain. Henry led the way with a very well compiled 35 retired, Archie batted with controlled aggression, also 35 retired, whilst Monty and Milan kept the tempo going to finish 24 not out and 20 not out respectively.
In the field, whilst making the occasional mistake, The Vine lads squeezed their opposition and after losing their openers (Archie and Rohan picking up the wickets) the chase was never on. Freddie chipped in with 3 wickets (could have been 5 if not for no balls) including a brilliant caught and bowled. In the end Linton Park ended on 95/5 from their 25 overs, a well-deserved 77 run win for The Vine.
Sevenoaks Vine U15 (85/5) lost to The Mote (86/0)
The WM side were playing their first home match of the season, this time against The Mote CC. The Vine batted first in a reduced overs match, with a good captain’s knock from Johnny (21). We ended on 85/5 from 20 overs, with Charlie G ending on 16 not out.
In response some of The Mote’s older lads got away to a flyer, chasing down the runs after 10 overs, a win by 10 wickets. On to the next one!