Broadstairs Cricket Club
Broadstairs Cricket Club
Broadstairs got their season back on track with a 37-run victory away to Beckenham CC. Still short of a couple of regulars, Broadstairs knew this was a must-win game if they were to capitalise on their excellent start to the season and avoid being pulled into the relegation zone. Having won the toss and elected to bat first, skipper Matt Hardy decided on a re-shaped batting line-up that mitigated the effects of the absences and ensured there was sufficient batting power spread throughout the top-to-middle order. This plan worked-out well, especially since the early departure of Nathan Fox could have prompted the sport of collapse that had been witnessed the week before. As it was, the partnership of Alex Hogben and Olly Skelton steadied the ship and saw off the first spell of Beckenham’s most potent bowler Malusi Siboto. Although the scoring rate in the early overs was fairly pedestrian (23-1 from the first 10 overs), the visitors had now set a platform that would allow them to accelerate their scoring. When Skelton departed for a very valuable 17 off 41 balls in the 16th over, Jay Basu came to the crease and he and Hogben pushed the score on to 88 before Hogben was bowled for 38. With the total on 83 and close to the half-way mark, it was now down to Basu and the incoming Jake Benfield to move through the gears and set a course for the Broadstairs innings of 230-plus. They duly obliged, both hitting a series of boundaries and matching one another in reaching their half-century milestones. With 13 overs still remaining, they advanced the score to 179-4 and an unassailable 250-plus was on the cards. However, both Basu (56) and Benfield (50) managed to hole-out in similar fashion within three overs of each other bringing Matt Hardy and Adam Jacob to the crease. A series of fairly rapid dismissals followed with Hardy’s contribution of 19 being the most noteworthy. The Broadstairs innings somewhat fizzled-out with just 39 runs added in the final 10 overs and they finished on 227 which while competitive, felt 20-30 short of what they might have expected.
Jay Basu 56, Jake Benfield 50, Alex Hogben 38, Matt Hardy 19, Olly Skelton 17
The second innings couldn’t have got off to a better start for Broadstairs with the opening bowling partnership of Jake Benfield and Chris Kidd restricting the reply to 40-3 in the 14th over with Benfield claiming all three wickets and Kidd’s 7 overs costing just 9 runs. Freddie Corner and Nathan Fox took over bowling duties and between them, continued to keep the scoring rate a modest level although Beckenham were now starting to mount a credible reply. Even the departure of Senn, bowled by Fox, just after reaching his half-century didn’t throw them off-course and after 34 overs with the score on 131-4, the outcome of the match looked to be in the balance. However, wickets for Basu and Oliver Frewin in successive overs shifted the initiative firmly back in Broadstairs’ favour and with the required run-rate starting to climb beyond six per-over and wickets now is short supply, it was just a matter of time before Broadstairs would secure their first win for six weeks. A combination of Basu, Kidd and Fox saw off the tail and Beckenham’s innings ended in the 50th over on 190.
The win places Broadstairs in 6th position in the table and with a full-strength side available next week for the visit of Linden Park, they will be hopeful that the winning habit might now have returned.
Jake Benfield 9-1-36-3
Chris Kidd 10-0-23-1
Freddie Corner 6-1-26-0
Nathan Fox 7.3-0-36-3
Jay Basu 10-0-35-2
Oliver Frewin 7-0-33-1
