3rd XI v DARTFORDIANS

The 3’s first home match of the campaign, was the return fixture of Dartfordians, Steve once again lost the toss, albeit not his fault this time, and was asked to bat first, even though his opener Ben was running late after being locked naked in a girl’s back garden, and not for the first time I can imagine. Anyway Ben arrived just in time for the start but all to no avail as He(3), Jotty(2) and Skip(9) all went cheaply in the first half-hour, and a very low score looked on the cards, that was until the young middle order of Dyab(11), Archie(28), Joe H(17) and Mitchell H(12) batted maturely ahead of their years, adding 86 very crucial runs, and were all dismissed no fault of their own, their downfall being caused by the uneven bounce of the wicket. Cookie produced two hefty blows for 8 before he tripped over his tongue and was stumped and Bill H added 10 runs from the number 11 slot, before Nick P at the other end got another lifter to their ‘keeps’ to finish off the Heath at 132 all-out, some 8 overs short of the 40. After tea we needed to get into their batting line up early, but with the Darts over half way to their goal of 133 runs, we only had a couple of wickets from Billy to show for our faultless effort. Frissers got a breakthrough just after the drinks break and helped himself to a brace more, but Dartfordians were still favourite all the time the experienced Terry Phillips was still at the crease, but sometimes one ball is all it takes to swing a match and Ryan like two weeks ago produced that ball, a quick swinging yorker, that T Phillips said after the match, knew had bowled him even before the ball was half way through its full course. Nick P’s second spell brought the Heath on the brink of victory with 3 wickets for virtually nothing, but bowling options were dwindling with all the main bowlers either bowled out or waiting for the 41st over before they could bowl their extras. Steve threw the bowl to Jotty, who kept it quiet at one end while it was left for the skipper, who was only bowling to use up overs, took the final wicket for the Heath to celebrate joyously a 19 run victory. After the dust had settled it was great to reflect on not only the success but the great spirit this game was played in. It would also have been very easy for our young batters to sit and sulk about their dismals due to the wicket, but they all accepted it and shrugged it off that was apart from Cookie who blamed the wicket even though he was STUMPED. But it was their Umpire who officiated at both ends who really summed it up when he said he was apprehensive about umpiring as he hadn’t done it for a few years, commented on the fantastic sportsmanship and honesty of our young team who made his umpiring duties a pleasure to carry out. Man of the Match had loads of nominees, but it has to be Ryan Frisby for his 4 for 24