Sevenoaks Vine Cricket Club turned a huge corner during the last week of June after they defeated local rivals Holmesdale in the Kent League Twenty20 Cup and then followed it up with a storming performance against Bickley Park for their second win of the season in the Kent Premier Division.
Sevenoaks versus Holmesdale is always a great match-up, however both teams put in a great shift when they met in the Kent League Twenty20 Cup at the end of June with the Vine pulling off a tremendous nine-wicket win given their poor start to the season.
Holmesdale opened the batting with Will McDowell (20) and Carlos Maynard (37) before Dom May (33) and Ollie Chaplin (11) added more runs for a total of 134 all out for the home side to chase. Sevenoaks captain Luke Schlemmer found his bowling form with a fantastic five wickets for 18 runs, whilst Matthew Dalton and Michael Cowdrey both grabbed themselves two wickets each for 18 and 21 runs respectively.
Schlemmer then opened the batting for the Vine with Chris Vernon (34) and put on a marvellous display hitting a total of 82 runs not out off 62 balls. Evert Bekker (17) joined him at the crease to finish the match with two overs to spare. Holmesdale’s Chaplin secured the only wicket of the innings. The Vine are through to the quarter-finals of the T20, however they are yet to find out their opponents as other fixtures are yet to be completed.
Kent Cricket League
The start of July held some good news for Sevenoaks Vine off the back of their T20 win over Holmesdale, as they marched to their second league win of the season, against a battling Bickley Park. Captain Luke Schlemmer was again at the helm of this match, and against his comments regarding ‘blooding the youth’ through the team, it was the old guard who ultimately won this match.
Bickley Park visited the vine having successfully won five of their eight opening games, versus Sevenoaks’ one win, so this wasn’t going to be an easy job but Schlemmer once again donned the cap and set out his stall with an amazing five wickets for 35 runs, helping the Vine bowl out Bickley Park for a total of 230.
Kent batsman Ben Compton opened with Vernon (13) and subsequently put on a dazzling display for Sevenoaks hitting a huge 124 not out, with the ever-present Schlemmer getting in on the act once again hitting 83 not out. A fine turnaround for what has been a tempestuous start to the season for Sevenoaks.
With league matches away to Sandwich (09/07) and Blackheath (23/07) and the arrival of current league leaders Hayes (16/07) to the Vine, July could end up being one very exciting and season-changing month.
