Weekend of 18/08/2007 to 19/08/2007

On a blustery day at Ball Lane, Ashford First team secured 16 points with an emphatic victory over struggling BOCA.

Bowling first, Ashford made an early breakthrough when Watson bowled BOCA's chief run scorer, Puckering. Si Taylor bowled superbly into a strong wind, and got his rewards when Liam Tegg came on allowing him to switch to the other end. Tegg (2 for 33) and Taylor (2 for 25) bowled excellent lines but the introduction of skipper, Julian Day, for his first bowl of the season brought BOCA's innings to an abrupt end. Taking 4 for 15 in 4 overs, Day ensured that his side would only be chasing 114 for victory with the BOCA boys all out in the 39th over.

John Brasier and Liam Tegg started brightly, with both looking in excellent form. Tegg was timing the ball superbly, but failed to keep out a yorker to be bowled for 21. Brasier and Shanon Fattore continued the run chase with vigour, ever mindful of the weather, and raced past the 100 mark in the 15th over before Brasier was bowled round his legs sweeping for a fine 43. Fattore (35 not out) and Gary Sutton saw the Ants home in the 17th over for a convincing win, Sutton hitting two consecutive boundaries to finish the match.

The 16 points keeps Ashford at the top of the table. Both Downham and Holmesdale both secured 20 point wins which means that only 6 points separate the top three. Ashford now face both in the final two weeks of the season with their fate well and truly in their own hands.

Si Taylor is unavailable for this week's crunch match at Holmesdale but leg spinner Craig Buckham returns from Cambridge and Ben Ealham steps up from the seconds to strengthen the side.

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BOCA 113 all out (39.4 overs) (J.Day 4-15, S.Taylor 2-25, L.Tegg 2-33)

Ashford 115-2 (J.Brasier 43, S.Fattore 35*, L.Tegg 21)

Won by 8 wkts

With only three games now remaining, this was a vital must-win game for Ashford against bottom side BOCA who, despite their lowly position, are always capable of an upset.

Ashford claimed the toss as at start time only five BOCA players were present and asked them to bat first. With Chris Senior and Ben Ealham grabbing a wicket each inside the first three overs BOCA were immediately deep in trouble, which was soon made even worse when Senior quickly snapped up a couple more to leave them 24-4 with the rest of their team still not present. Just in the nick of time the rest of the BOCA team arrived but Senior continued to "roll back the years" and deservedly picked up 5-24 from 12 overs. With Ealham taking three wickets and Colin Paine and Alistair Neale also chipping in with a wicket each, BOCA were dismissed for 73 in just 30 overs.

Whilst chasing a low score, nothing could be taken for granted with rain clouds moving in and the wicket itself being totally unfit for this level of cricket with horrendously inconsistent bounce. Ashford opened with Neil Tegg and skipper Darran Wood, who used attack as the best form of defence and raced to 10 before being caught at mid wicket in the third over but with Stefan Pichowski and Tony Rolfe then falling quickly Ashford were wobbling at 25-3. However the contrasting qualities of Tegg and youngster Alistair Neale made sure there would be no further disasters with Tegg's many years of experience on village wickets paying dividends and Neale's attacking qualities seeing Ashford home inside twenty overs.

Tegg finished on 18 not out and Neale raced to 40 not out. This result leaves Ashford very well placed ahead of the visit of Holmesdale this Saturday.

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BOCA Sports 76 all out (30.4 overs) (B.Ealham 3-35, C.Senior 5-24, C.Paine 1-0)

Ashford 79-3 (18.2 overs) (A.Neale 40*, N.Tegg 18*, D.Wood 10)

Won by 7 wkts

Match report not available.

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