The pitch looked dry and slow and conditions were warm. Beechwood lost the toss and were invited to bat first. This was a 40 over match for the much sought-after "French Connection Challenge Cup".
Freeman and Hill opened the batting for Beechwood and Hill started in aggressive fashion freely striking boundaries. Freeman looked in good touch and together they were scoring at just under 6 an over. They had just completed their half century stand when Hill attempted to launch a straight one from Page and was bowled.
Warner came in and he and Freeman enjoyed some fairly friendly bowling that allowed them to continue to score at a very healthy rate. Warner completed his half century, while Freeman continued to work the ball around at the other end. Freeman was using his feet well and punishing anything short. They had put on 142 when Warner played all round one from Chanda and was bowled having scored 87 from 76 balls.
Salmon came in and continued the good strike rate before he was caught. Valentine, Beechwood 's "overseas player" was next up and quickly vented his frustration at having to wait 32 overs to have a bat by hitting a quick-fire 42 from 21 balls before he was caught in the deep. Whilst this was all going on Freeman had completed his half century and was quietly but efficiently going about his business. Freeman was finally bowled for 60 and Robinson and Cooksley finished the innings not out having pushed Beechwood up to a final score of 257 for 5.
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Cowell and Hill opened the bowling for Beechwood and Cowell removed Alley with his second ball, the batsman edging a wide one to Makin behind the stumps. Hill clean bowled Barnes and Beechwood were in control. Chanda, Tenterden's "overseas player" was next in and it soon became evident why Captain Woodward had not opened with himself as Chanda proceeded to drive anything in his half to the boundary. In fact his first 6 scoring shots were boundaries.
Valentine replaced the shell shocked Cowell and his extra pace soon checked Chanda's free flowing scoring as well as hitting him on the arm. Chanda was undone by Hill's secret weapon, the slow full toss and was caught by Salmon at mid on, ironically one of the few bad balls he bowled in what was an excellent spell. What had started as a massive task for Tenterden now looked fairly hopeless with their star batsman back in the pavilion. Wickets continued to fall, Cooksley replaced Hill and after a sticky start (a wicket maiden? - Steve) bowled some lovely leg spin with a good pace. He managed to pick up 4 wickets and by now Tenterden were a beaten side. Woodward now felt it was safe to enter the attack and he replaced Cowell after his second spell. Woodward removed Kokkinos LBW, Valentine bowled Hawkins who played on and Tenterden were bowled out for 85 from 23.1 overs. Councillor French (also known as Umpire French) presented the trophy to Captain Woodward who I believe made a speech but I don't know what he said as I was at the bar (there's a first!).
Team: Cooksley, Cowell, Freeman, Kelly, Hill, Makin (w), Robinson, Salmon, Valentine, Warner, Woodward (c) |
