Broadstairs Cricket Club
Broadstairs Cricket Club
Broadstairs lost by 3 wickets
Whitstable CC won the toss and elected to field
Broadstairs 194 all out (48.3) Nathan Fox 65, Alex Hogben 25, Tom Marshall 22, George Kidd 21
Whitstable 195-7 (48.5) Matthew Frewin 3-46, Oliver Frewin 2-33
This week the 1st XI welcomed Whitstable to Park Avenue on a blustery overcast day that had an end of season September feel about it.
Losing the toss, we were asked to bat. Hogben and Fox started us off and compiled a nice partnership, putting away the loose deliveries from Cook and being watchful of the pace and accuracy from the overseas opening bowler Seward.
Fox brought up his half century in the 20th over but the partnership was broken in the 21st over when MacVicar bowled Alex (25) and in his next over Benfield (4) found the cover fielder.
Tom Marshall saw us through to drinks with Nathan Fox and with the score on 108-2 we were nicely positioned. Drinks breaks can do strange things to the batting side; Whitstable finally found consistency in their line and length and with Fulton’s final delivery in the 28th over, Fox was brilliantly caught low down by Denly at mid-on for 65.
Skipper Hardy joined Marshall and the two set about the job of consolidation, trying to work singles with Marshall picking up the odd boundary until he found the fielder trying to sweep and walked back to the pavilion after making 22. In the same over Hardy (3) also tried sweeping and ended up dragging onto his stumps and when Matt Frewin (2) edged Lewis and was caught behind we had slumped to 145-6 with 15 overs remaining.
A quick cameo from Adam Jacob (8) included a nice 6 into the roadside trees before being run out which we had two Kidds at the crease. The father and son pair steadied the ship, keeping the scoreboard ticking over until Chris edged Saggers behind for a vital 15 and when George was bowled by Denly the next over for an equally vital 21, it was left to Ellison & Oli Frewin to try and get the 6 runs required for another batting point. Alas it wasn’t to be as Brad was bowled by Saggers for 2 and we ended in the innings 9 deliveries short of 50 overs and disappointingly had lost our last 7 wickets for 52 runs.
However, we had a score, it was a sticky track due to the recent downpours and wasn’t easy to get in on, or so we thought. Buzz Gould hit 2 boundaries from a poor first over from Ellison and another 7 runs came from Chris Kidd’s first over and all of a sudden ‘the bubble’ were off to a flyer. The experienced pair of bowlers soon got their accuracy back.
After 12 overs the visitors had moved onto 45-0 but Gould couldn’t resist much longer, the trap had been set with long off and he finally accepted the challenge only to find the hands of Matt Frewin.
Benfield replaced Kidd and he made the batsmen hurry with his extra pace. Ellison finished his spell (10-2-36-1) and George replaced him.
Jake finished his 4 over spell and was replaced by Matt Frewin, who struck with just his second delivery, Fulton finding George at point. At the drinks interval Whistable were 78-2.
Oli Frewin came on to replace George, left arm spin from both ends, both were keeping it tight and when Drakely tried taking on Matt he could only find the hands of Benfield at mid-off. 107-3 with 18 overs remaining, you’d think it was easy going for the visitors, but as mentioned earlier, it wasn’t an easy track to come straight in to.
With two Denlys at the crease now, it was vital that we made another breakthrough. Two Frewins were then replaced by two Kidds and George struck almost instantly, Jayden dancing down the track and George hitting the top of middle.
Goss then looked busy at the crease until he too found Benfield in the deep from Oli Frewin and two deliveries later Lewis danced passed one and Hardy took the bails off. There was a bit of hope at 172-6, but as he’s done so often in the past, Sam Denly held it together while all others around him were falling.
Matt Frewin was also back on and Seward gave Benfield his third catch of the innings. But with 5 required from 2 overs it took just a leg by and a MacVicar boundary to see Broadstairs lose their 100% start to the season.
Chris Kidd 10-1-29-0
Jake Benfield 4-0-10-0
George Kidd 7-0-40-1
Matt Frewin 10-0-46-3
Oli Frewin 7.5-0-33-2
This weeks MoM was Nathan Fox for his nice knock of 65.
Ultimately, we were 20-30 runs short, we have been better with the ball in other games this year and we were second best in the fielding department. But we pushed a strong promotion chasing team all the way.
