Broadstairs Cricket Club
Broadstairs Cricket Club
Broadstairs won the toss and batted first
258 all out (49.4)
Jay Basu 85, Andrew Bailey 39, Chris Kidd 38, Nathan Fox 29, Harry Carter 26
Whitstable 201 all out (44.5)
George Kidd 3-35, Oli Frewin 3-52, Chris Kidd 2-22
Broadstairs travelled to fellow seasiders Whitstable this week in a vital game for both teams in their respective bid for promotion. Skipper Matt Hardy won the toss and elected to bat on the postage stamp ground.
Jay & Nathan opened and tucked into some loose Whitstable bowling and made use of the lightning outfield, racing to 56 from the first 7 overs. Josh Lock with a change of ends found the breakthrough, trapping Fox in front for a quick 29 from 25 deliveries and 7 boundaries. Alex Hogben followed soon after, a fantastic catch by keeper Sam Denly from the inside edge leaving us 69-2 from 10.
Andy Bailey joined Jay and the two batsmen took the attack to Whitstable with a series of superb cover drives and a succulent on drive from Jay; one of the best shots you could ever hope to see. Both were enjoying themselves and Whitstable seemed to have no answer until Bailey was adjudged LBW for a classy 39. George Kidd and Matt Hardy followed in quick succession and 140-2 from 20 had turned into 162-5 from 24.
Tom Marshall hung around with Jay until the 29th over when Jay was caught out by some indifferent bounce for a fantastic 85 from 74 deliveries. 181-6 became 197-7 when Tom was caught in the 33rd over and from looking like amassing 300+ at one stage we were hoping to get to 250.
Harry Carter and Chris Kidd steadied the ship, both finding the boundary with regular occurrence, and all of a sudden a bigger scored looked to be back on the cards. Carter eventually succumbed, caught for a useful 26 and Brad joined Chris for the final 10 overs. At 232-8 the target was to bat the remaining overs and get 250+
The 250 came in in the 47th over and then Kidd hit a maximum. However he couldn’t quite muster another as he was caught on the boundary for brilliant 38 in the circumstances and in the final over Oli Frewin fell LBW leaving us on 258.
A decent crowd had arrived at the ground to watch the game; there was an air of expectancy that the hosts would knock these runs off quickly. This seemed to be the case when Buzz Gould hit the first ball of the innings from Brad to the boundary, two more boundaries from the outside edge followed this, but when he tried to hit the next ball out of the ground he found Matt Hardy on the boundary. He’d fallen in the first over for the second time this season against us.
Matt Hardy has shown that he is not afraid to change things up as captain and it was Oli Frewin who shared the new ball and he picked up the second wicket in his fourth over, caught behind by Bailey and then bowled Maddison in his fifth over.
George Kidd had replaced the unusually expensive Brad and continued his fantastic form with the ball, beating the edge numerous times. After 10 overs the home side were 62-3, Chris Kidd then replaced Oli and he struck in his first over, Jayden Denly attempting a reverse sweep and finding the big hands of Hardy at slip.
The reintroduction of Frewin brought another wicket in the 19th over, Tom Marshall taking the catch at deep midwicket. Sam Denly and Tom Phillis then dug in and made us work; we were bowling a lot more dot balls than Whitstable had managed and despite the odd boundary, the run rate was climbing slowly. Jay & Natty both bowled tidy spells, helping to keep the scoring rate down. Once again Hardy made changes and it was father & son who had the final say. Firstly George, getting Phillis caught behind, this was quickly followed by a suicidal run out. Chris then picked up his second wicket and the next over Sam Denly tried to put George into the flats, he succeeded in finding Hardy on the boundary who took a great catch for the cameras. All that was left was for George to pick up his third wicket, caught by Harry and Whitstable had been bowled out for 201 in the 45th over.
A fantastic team performance, we never gave up despite a middle order collapse and a lengthy stand against us. Fantastic team spirit and a huge push towards our bid for promotion. We’ll take it a game at a time and next week we welcome a strengthened New Beckenham to Park Avenue.
