Dartford vs Bexleyheath 2nd XI

After seventeen long months of waiting and participation not only for Kent league cricket to finally start again but also to finally see division one at the peak of a seven year long journey from division five Bexleyheath second eleven began their 2021 campaign at Hesketh Park away to Dartford cricket club.

On a cold, cloudy day and doubts in the week prior as to if the weather would hold up, captain Sam Montgomery lost the toss and Bexleyheath were put in to bat on a pitch with a hint of green suggesting there was something in it for the bowlers. This, however, was not the case as Bexleyheath gained an early advantage with an opening stand of 76, a majority of these were scored by Ali Barker (50) becoming the first of the Heath’s batsman to raise his bat this season. Barker was pugnacious off of the back foot particularly on the cut and off of the front foot through the leg side timing the ball with ease. He was supported by a scratchy but determined Ben Moore (19) who was the first to go LBW.

After this unfortunately for the Heath was the first of three clusters of wickets to fall. Ali Barker and then John Olufawo (3) followed shortly after Moore leaving the away side 81-3. George Gann was then joined by Michael Barker returning after two seasons in the first eleven and the two were going nicely rebuilding with a fourth-wicket stand of 42 until Gann (15) sadly mistimed a pull to square leg, a shot that thus far in the pre-season games has served him well. Once again this was followed by another two wickets with Ravi Patel (0) and Grantleigh Burnham (3) shortly following Gann with the visitors now in trouble at 133-6. What followed however was the most promising passage of play during the Bexleyheath innings where Jack Aldred (34) and Michael Barker (40) rebuilt again putting on 47 for the seventh wicket. The two batted sensibly and looked comfortable doing well to pull Bexleyheath out of a hole.

At 180-7 Billy Hally (17*) joined Aldred and provided a useful contribution also playing with maturity including a straight drive off of the opening bowler for four that any top order batsman would be proud of. The eighth wicket fell at 211 and the final two wickets could only get Bexleyheath to a final total of 214 all out with neither Matt Wilson or Sam Montgomery troubling the scorers.

At the halfway stage things seemed evenly poised then when Montgomery dismissed George Reynolds for a duck leaving Dartford 9-1 things were looking good. Sadly however the bowlers early on took some time finding their line and after ten overs were going at just shy of seven an over. A short rain delay however seemed to do the trick as the very first ball back after the break Matthew Wilson found his areas and took the glove of Andrew Martin that was scuppered up sharply by keeper Ali Barker diving forward. Wilson’s second half of his spell had much more control than the first and he stuck at it well in the face of an attacking Dartford top order finishing with figures of 6 overs, no maidens, 1 wicket at a cost of 24 runs.

Skipper Montgomery then decided to slow things down with the controlled slow left arm of George Gann who found some turn and flighted the ball well, Jack Aldred who attacked the stumps also kept things simple bowling a tight line. The scoring rate dropped rapidly and at one stage somewhat oddly Dartford seemed to bat by numbers, they may well have known more about the local weather than the visitors. From a commanding position looking like they’d have chased 250 with ease a well set Elliot Algar on 40 gave a very simple chance back to George Gann to find himself caught and bowled. Equally bemusing and irresponsible was Lee Gray trying to smash a straight ball from Aldred completely out of the blue to then be bowled, he was followed the moments later by Manoj Parthiban who was adjudged LBW first ball. All of a sudden Dartford were 108-5 off of 23 making for a fascinating game when the rain came down ending proceedings abruptly so sadly one can only speculate what the outcome would have been. Aldred and Gann ended up going for 12 and 13 runs respectively off of the 11 overs bowled between them making for quite the turnaround.

Summing up a promising start to the season with strong performances with the bat from the likes of the two Barker’s and Jack Aldred. Young Jack showing maturity beyond his years and some bottle in a situation where other’s his age may have struggled. Also not to forget the recovery with the ball, Matthew Wilson having a tricky start stuck at it and tightened things up when the Dartford batsmen were still trying to attack then George Gann and again Jack Aldred starting to turn the innings in Bexleyheath’s favour, showing that they are both genuine all-rounders and have a big role to play. There is of course always room for improvement notably the early run rate in defending our total and three times three wickets fell in short succession.

To end some food for thought. Although a good ending to a decent game of cricket was stolen from us by the weather, ultimately if nothing else it was wonderful being out there playing cricket again on a Saturday with life resembling some form of normality people have desperately needed for over a year now.

Match report written by Ben Moore