Rumours of decimated availability due to a club wedding, many congratulations to Liam and Alex, were greatly exaggerated and captain Couldrey led a strong 3rd XI against Beckenham at the Warren. Colin continued his success with the coin winning another toss and elected to put Beckenham in, even with 10 players on the ground at the start.
The new ball was shared between the express pair of Raghav Kumar and Jacob Marlow. Malow was hostile and got a lot of bounce out of the pitch, meanwhile at the other end the pitch was slightly more variable which Kumar exploited. His first wicket that of opener Joji Thankachan was one that all seamers dream of. The ball pitched on the length to bring the batter forward, moved in and hit the top of off bowling him through the gate for 14 (20). In the same over, he dismissed Vignesh Udaiappa for a duck with one that kept a little low. At the other end Marlow had put through a lot of balls at pace and although it could be argued his line was a little too pretty and not quite there to challenge the bat, he got his reward for his effort, bowling the Beckenham four through the gate and leaving them 41-3.
The game had to be paused as during his last over Marlow took a heavy landing as he released the ball and injured his ankle. We wish Jacob the best and a speedy recovery. Drinks were taken during this delay and previous 12th man hero Jamie Wilkie arrived at the ground, he got on his phone and called up his oldest son Ted, who made an unexpected return to cricket having spent the winter in South Africa playing rugby. Thank you, Ted, for your help this game.
Captain Couldrey finished Yak’s over and decided to stay on. In the meantime, Dammika Silva back from his hand injury ended Beckenham keeper Varnier Moore’s stay at the crease. Varnier Moore had left the ball well and had batted patiently before being drawn into a loose shot outside off and was caught by Couldrey at gully. Varnier Moore was comfortably the pick of the Beckenham batters and on a different day would have scored much higher. Shortly after this, Couldrey won the battle of the captains, having survived two very close lbw shouts in the over, Couldrey bowled a ball that dragged Damith Rajakaruna out of his crease and some sharp glovework from Millard had the bails off. In a summer where there has been much discussion of the Spirt of Cricket in the England v India test series it was refreshing to see in league cricket a batter ‘walking’ on a dismissal so thanks again to the Beckenham captain.
Couldrey with the bit between his teeth was again rewarded for his probing line and good movement, trapping Bhavin Patel in front of all three. He was out and Beckenham were 62-6. Johnny Wilkie, who is aiming to overtake ‘Naughty’ Tom Davis as leading wicket taker in the 3s, started well taking a wicket with his first ball of the game, bowling Tirth Poddar for 7 (15). Beckenham now had the youthful pair of Evie Pulford and Mahen Jayasinge. Pulford was very solid, getting behind the ball and showing serious grit against very good bowling. Jayasinge was forced to overbalance from a delivery from Wilkie and was stumped leaving Beckenham 75-8. Kumar came back into the attack and finally worked one through the tight defences of Pulford. Beckenham Number 10 Himanshi Sharmu, clearly inspired by the batting of Rishab Pant and Ben Stokes this summer moved around the crease and struck the ball well. Before he was able to do too much damage Wilkie held his nerve and fired one through quicker, getting Sharmu lbw, leaving Beckenham 99 all out.
After a light tea, Warne and Aylwin set about the total. Matt Warne clearly had a hot date that night, to paraphrase his favourite line in the field, as he threw everything at the bowling. He profited greatly over the backward point region. At the other end Sam Aylwin was slightly more watchful before unleashing, hitting a huge six down the ground back over the bowler’s head. As the carnage unfolded, player umpires Couldrey and Wilkie (pictured) watched on in the new umpiring jackets (lab coats) that Colin has bought for the team.
It looked at one point that Hayes were going to chase the total 0 wickets down, however Sharmu had different ideas, and he produced a jaffa to bowl Aylwin. Warne batting fully in T20 mode tried to hit Pulford into the trees over cow, unfortunately for him he didn’t quite get hold of it and was caught in the deep by the well placed Bhavin Patel out for 43 (28). When asked if he knew the fielder was there Warne said ‘Yes, I just thought I’d clear him!’ Verma and Sam Humphreys, playing against his old club, chased down the rest of the total with relative ease, Hayes knocking the runs off in 14.2 overs.
No presso this week due to the big wedding. However, there are a couple of candidates for PotM: Matt Warne for his 43 off 28 balls, Johnny Wilkie for his 3-15 but the tone was set with the new ball and although his figures perhaps don’t reflect how well he bowled due to a few edges and slogged boundaries Raghav Kumar showed skill and pace well beyond his age and his first 5 overs really set the tone of the game and put Beckenham on the back foot. So, he is the PotM for this week. Next week, the 3s are looking for back to back wins, hosting OD CUACO on the Meadow.
Notable Performances:
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BCC:
