Weekend of 28/04/2007 to 29/04/2007

Match report not available.

Ashford 198 all out (A.Raza 56, N.Campbell 45)

Sandwich 200-3 (M.Raza 2-15)

Lost by 7 wkts

On a gloriously sunny afternoon Ashford 2nd's took on Sandwich in the final Saturday friendly before the League season starts this week.

Sandwich batted first and, whilst they made a satisfactory start, stalwart Colin Paine bowled his normal consistent line making it as tough as possible for the Sandwich openers. His eight overs cost only 23 and with James Rodway trying his heart out at the other end Ashford did threaten early on. However, after making a century in the corresponding fixture last year, Kevin Beaumont seemed set for another this year as he reached a very solid 50. But a couple of balls later he was brilliantly cleaned bowled by Chris Senior who continued to "roll back the years" finishing with 3-36 from his eight overs. Dave Scoggins made a patient 57 but other than a final flourish in the last few overs the Sandwich batsmen were kept in check by young medium pacer Matt Nash and leg spinner Dean Clark who picked up 3-39 from 6 overs. Alex Boatfield, making his senior team debut, also bowled well at the death.

Chasing 203 for victory, Ashford made a steady start with opener Neil Tegg accumulating well, but wickets soon fell at the other end with Rob Dagger and Simon Berry falling cheaply and Tony Rolfe also getting out for 12 when looking to accelerate. Chris Senior with Tegg then took the score to 94 before Tegg was caught behind immediately after making a solid half century. Senior rode his luck well with the Sandwich fielders spilling a couple of easy catches, but with wickets tumbling at the other end Ashford looked to be completely out of it at 113-7 with only nine overs left. However 17 year old James Rodway had other ideas and took the attack to the Sandwich bowlers and with Senior now also in prime hitting form the ball was dispatched to all parts of the ground. 34 runs were plundered in only 2 overs and with 12 balls left only 13 runs were required for victory. Alas it was not to be, with Senior being bowled for a tremendous 66 and Rodway a brilliant 34, Ashford fell 7 runs short.

Once again the youngsters performed admirably and with the over-40 brigade Tegg, Senior and Paine leading from the front the team are looking forward to their first league encounter this Saturday away to Chestfield.

Sandwich 202-8 (40 overs) (D.Clarke 3-39, C.Senior 3-36)

Ashford 195-9 (40 overs) (C.Senior 66, N.Tegg 50, J.Rodway 34)

Lost by 7 runs

Match report not available.

In the final chance of a warm up for both sides before the leagues start this Saturday Ashford welcomed Premier League champions Bromley to Ball Lane last Sunday.

In a 45-over game Bromley batted first and were soon in trouble with Alex Watson claiming a wicket in the very first over. Bromley then recovered and began to increase the pace against Ashford's opening attack of Watson and Simon Taylor, albeit not with the most convincing of shots at times. With the score on 70 after only 12 overs Lee Taylor was well caught by Shannon Fattore for 35 which brought James Watson to the crease to face his old club and perhaps more importantly his younger brother Alex who was still bowling. Young Ashford Sunday Captain Liam Tegg then introduced himself into the attack and completely strangled the scoring rate with the Bromley batsmen unable to get his accurate off-spin away. James Watson chipped out to mid-wicket for 16 and with Shannon Fattore brought into the attack Ashford began to put the squeeze on. Fattore then grabbed three wickets to leave Bromley 142-6. However with opportunities rightly given to youngsters Dean Clark and James Rodway to bowl against a premier side, Bromley piled on the runs from one end but Tegg was still proving to be very "unhittable" at the other and his 15 over spell produced superb figures of 4-30 enabling Ashford to bowl out Bromley for 238.

Ashford opener Julian Day found the middle of the bat straight away and soon pulled the opening bowler for six. However after he was LBW for 15 Ashford lost momentum and with Shannon Fattore and Chris Senior falling in quick succession it was left to Simon Taylor and Liam Tegg to rebuild the innings. With Taylor playing the anchor role Tegg attempted to take the attack to the Bromley bowlers but once again the introduction of a spin attack made quick runs hard to come by. With the score on 100 Tegg chipped once too often into the leg side and was caught for 41 and with Taylor being bowled for a valiant 38 shortly afterwards the Ashford challenge was all but over and they were eventually bowled out for 146.

Whilst Bromley ran out comfortable winners in the end, the game provided excellent practice for both sides with several Ashford youngsters experiencing playing against premier players for the first time and certainly Bromley did not have it all their own way when they were batting.

Bromley 238 all out (L.Tegg 4-30, S.Fattore 3-43)

Ashford 146 all out (L.Tegg 41, S.Taylor 38)

Lost by 92 runs

home     ·     officials     ·     fixtures     ·     players     ·     colts     ·     social     ·     join     ·     find     ·      sitemap