Broadstairs Cricket Club
Broadstairs Cricket Club
In their last home match of the season, Broadstairs CC crept over the line with a 4-run victory against Leeds & Broomfield. The win confirms Broadstairs’ status as a Championship club for next season and sends their opponents down to Division 1. Despite having won the toss and electing to bat first, a victory looked unlikely when the hosts found themselves at 103-6. However, the introduction of Jake Benfield who hit an explosive 54 off 41 balls rescued the situation and Broadstairs were able to set a defendable target of 171.
The Leeds & Broomfield response was steady and despite losing opener Davis to Bradley Ellison, at 63-1 the modest target set by the hosts was looking under threat. However, Ellison struck again and this prompted a steady fall of wickets with Chris Kidd (3-13) working through the middle order. A 10 over period of contained bowling from Matthew Frewin, George Kidd, Chris Kidd and Nathan Fox piled on the pressure on the visitors who were only able to add a further 20 runs. With rain threatening, everyone had one eye on the DLS score which Leeds & Broomfield were now lagging. The situation forced the fall of the 6th wicket, the first of three to be claimed by George Kidd in the final phase of the match. Both he and Fox were able to keep their nerve and continue to take wickets as the visitors closed-in on a revised target of 170 from 49 overs following a short rain break. In the end, with 12 still needed off the final over, this was a step too far for Leeds & Broomfield who finished on 165-9.
The win for Broadstairs means that their visit to Dartford next week for the final match of the season will be a somewhat less charged affair than it might have been. Dartford would have been watching the final stages of this very tight finish; if it had gone the other way, they would have been fighting a relegation battle right through to the final match of the season.
