After three defeats in the last four games played, Kemsing Cricket Club’s push for promotion had been severely set back. With the visit of top side, Marden, on Saturday it would need a massive change of fortune for the home side to get back to winning ways.
Skipper, Grahame Wood, won the toss and contrary to previous weeks, decided to field first. This didn’t seem to be a good decision after nine overs, with 60 runs on the board, but the introduction of bowlers James Walkling (2-30) and Roger Shaddock (1-40) slowed the scoring rate to sensible levels and they also removed the top three batsmen.
After that, the wickets fell steadily to Damien Saville (3-38) and Grahame Wood (4-16), who brought himself on at a good time, with stout resistance by number four, Ollie Rhys-Jones, who scored an invaluable 46 not out in a total of 182, after opener, Alex Newport had batted nicely for 57.
Kemsing would need to bat well against the excellent Marden bowling attack to stand any chance of a win.
Unfortunately, the division’s top run scorer, G Wood was bowled by a ripper with the score on just 8, thus causing some consternation in the Kemsing ranks. However, James Walkling, who had had a lean few weeks, batted superbly, with great support from Jake Wood. Walkling’s superb 115 not out was scored off 96 balls, which was slow for him, and contained 10 fours and four massive sixes. Jake kept the strike rotating well, scoring a crucial 48 not out from 114 balls.
Kemsing eased home, by nine wickets with 10 balls to spare, in a very well judged run chase. Promotion is likely to be beyond them, due to lack of player depth, but it could be an interesting end to the season.
