Sandwich Town were this week’s visitors to the Vine as the 1st XI recorded a comfortable four wicket victory.
Sandwich won the toss and elected to bat first on a good looking Vine wicket and got off to a quick start with the score 63-0 after 10 overs. The introduction of the Vine’s Tom Parsons brought about the first wicket with the score on 81, having Ben Smith caught for 41. The decision to then bring Andrew Reid-Dick into the attack proved profitable as he trapped Rob Goatham LBW for 5, before Parsons had Kent professional Jordan Cox caught behind without troubling the scorers. Reid Dick then had Zack Fagg stumped for 52 and with the score 109-4, the Vine had regained momentum. Some handy resistance by Cam Fletcher, Alex Smith and Jan Gray pushed Sandwich beyond 200, before Gray was ran out by Vikas Kokkiligada for 23 in the 46th over. Sandwich were bowled out for 219, with Parsons and Reid-Dick the pick of the bowlers with three wickets a piece, with Tom Coldman collecting another two wickets and Karl Pearson with one.
The Vine chase started in less than ideal fashion with Evert Bekker out caught for 5 in the second over, which brought Adam Rouse to the crease. What next entailed was a very special innings from Rouse, who smashed the ball to all parts of the ground, bringing up his 50 in just 30 balls, and a 100 in 60, despite the loss of wickets of youngsters Kokkiligada and Charlie Williams. Miles Richardson (32) played maturely around Rouse who ultimately was out for 125 from 67 balls, hitting 18 fours and 4 sixes. Handy contributions from Lorne Burns (16), Karl Pearson (19*) and Third Team stalwart Matt Wilson (11*) ensured the Vine completed their chase with 9 overs remaining.
The 1st XI now sit in third place and travel to ninth placed Canterbury next weekend.
Kent Cricket League Premier 2nd Division: Sandwich Town 2nd (215-7) beat Sevenoaks Vine 2nd (199 all out)
The 2nd XI’s titles hopes were dented on Saturday as they fell 17 runs short away at Sandwich Town.
Losing the toss, the Vine were made to field first, and made an early breakthrough courtesy of Piers Robinson. Whilst Henry Procter bowled with great pace, Sandwich survived the early Sevenoaks onslaught and with Craig Snell and Lawrence Hills at the crease, looked comfortable. The Introduction of Chris Vernon proved profitable as he removed Snell for 39, and finished with excellent figures of 1-20 from his 10 overs. However, the Sandwich batsman took a liking to spin, and played the necessary release shot when needed and allowed Hills to reach 24 before being removed by John Bowden, as well as Ben Chapman (47) and George Laslett (45), both also removed by Bowden. Whilst Bowden would also pick up the wickets of Liam Evans for 2 and Phil Rowcroft for 0, to complete his ten overs with figures of 5-39, some inconsistent death bowling allowed the hosts to post a total of 215-7 from their 50 overs.
The chase was on, and in the full knowledge that the total was more than gettable, it would require some steady batting from the Sevenoaks team. However, Ben Price was given out LBW early on, and it was up to Vernon and Cyrus White to steady the ship. The pair played well and made good starts, before lapses in concentration saw them both out for 27 and 21 respectively. Henry Procter, Guy Bevan-Thomas and John Bowden all fell soon after and the Vine found themselves in a spot of bother with the score 80-5. It was the job of James White and Chad Quinney to survive the Sandwich attack and that they did, before White fell for 27 and then Quinney for 36, despite continuing on his promising form from the previous week. Will Peters was then removed without scoring, and suddenly it was 162-9. It was then down to Joe Banks and Piers Robinson to score 50 from the final ten overs. The pair were determined and with some intelligent running and good stroke-play, took the Vine within touching distance with 19 needed from 24 balls. Trying to ensure the total would be gettable by the final over, the run rate had caught up with the Vine as Robinson picked out midwicket to be caught for 15. The Vine were bowled out for 199, 17 runs short.
The 2nd XI now sit in third place, four points behind Bexley in second, and eight behind Sandwich who sit in pole position. With two games remaining, the Vine were require both Sandwich and Bexley to slip up, if they have any hope of lifting the Premier League title.
Kent Regional Cricket League 2A Central: Sevenoaks Vine 3rd (245-3) beat Minster (Sheppey) 3rd (126 all out)
Sevenoaks Vine 3rd XI entertained Minster at Otford and having won the toss elected to bat. Ben Harvey and Dan Martin made a solid start and added 50 before Harvey was bowled for 19. Adrian Spurling joined Martin and these two took the score up to 133 before Spurling was stumped for 33. With 14 overs left and 8 wickets in hand the Vine could attack and Dan Martin now joined by Shami Iqbal did just that with the pair adding nearly 100 in 12 overs before Iqbal was caught in the deep for 39. Martin reached a well- played 100 in the last over – his first for the club – and the Vine finished on 245-3.
In response, Harry Robinson struck in the first over of Minster’s reply and after a brief flurry of runs, Johnny Coleman and Hugo Tudor took 3 quick wickets leaving Minsters reply in trouble at 48-4. They never recovered but it took 39 overs for the Vine to bowl them out with wickets shares around but Tudor (4-25) and Robinson (3-27) did most of the damage with a wicket each for Coleman, Iqbal and Leo Bezuidenhout.
Still sitting top of the table, the 3rd XI travel to the Mote next weekend knowing they have already gained promotion.
Friendly: Sevenoaks Vine Development Team (252-7) beat Kemsing (204)
The Development Team hosted Kemsing on Sunday and were asked to bat first on a glorious day at the Vine. Guy Bevan-Thomas and Charlie Williams got the Vine off to a flying start, hitting 140-0 from the first 20 overs. A moment of madness saw Williams run out for 50, soon followed by Bevan-Thomas on 88. This brought about a collapse as the Vine fell to 153-6 in a matter of overs. Andrew Reid-Dick (20) and Will Ansell (24*) played sensibly, enduring the tricky spell caused by some tight Kemsing bowling, before Harry Robinson (36*) handed some lusty blows in the final five overs to charge the Vine up to 252-7 from their 40 overs (and in good time as both teams were able to witness the conclusion of the test match).
In response, Kemsing started steadily as they pounced on any loose deliveries bowled by the Vine attack, but remained cautious of the tidy lines and lengths generally bowled. Wickets proved hard to come by as openers Ian Martin and Jake Wood ticked the scoreboard along. The first wicket would fall in the 25th over, courtesy of Reid-Dick (2-15) and with the score at 106-1, Kemsing needed to score ten an over. Some tight bowling by Reid-Dick and Michael Procter (1-37) kept Kemsing under pressure, as did the ever present Piers Robinson at short leg. Kemsing would ultimately finish 48 runs short in another win for the Vine Development Team.
PLEASE NOTE THIS MATCH REPORT WAS SUPPLIED BY SEVENOAKS VINE CRICKET CLUB AND HAS ONLY BEEN EDITED BY SEVENOAKS SPORTS.
