May 13, R2 Offham (h)

Milstead won by 62 runs

So this was not to be our year. On the day, the gods were not with us. Milstead scored a gettable total on a good pitch after excellent change bowling from Tom 'Psycho' Chalenor and Ian 'Playing as a Specialist Bowler Today' Linstead pegged back the visitors who had won the toss and got off to a fast start. Chalenor ended up with 3 good wickets, including one of the high scoring openers, caught on the square leg boundary by a tumbling catch from Chopper 'Playing as a Specialist Boundary Fielder Today' Harris despite an intrusive media presence. The other moment of note during the Milstead innings was a very tidy catch on the boundary by Paul 'The Wanderer' McLeod who somehow accidentally staggered back over the boundary to turn the "catch" into a "six".

Tea was marked by further intrusive media coverage, but we were getting used to it by then.

Our innings got pegged back early on by some very tidy opening bowling and some early wickets left  Clive 'Big Bird' Gordine with an impossible task to lead the charge towards an ever-receding target.  Memories of a bad defeat were erased later chez Linstead when twelfth man Bishie processed a splendid barbeque and some wicked sangrias and margeritas into proprietary border plant food.

Team: Jason Lee (capt); Dave Hollands; Marc Wood; Clive Gordine; Ian Linstead; Sid Seymour; Tom Chalenor; Nigel Shaw (gloves); Paul McLeod; Luke Grayland; Ian Harris

Leigh won by 88 runs

It was not as easy as the result might suggest, at least not for a while. At 70-odd for six off 20 overs, Leigh were on the ropes. After Darren Flint had departed early on, wafting at a wide one, skipper Jason Lee and Ian Linstead rebuilt the innings. After a fruitful spell for the batsmen, Offham put the brakes on with a couple of bowling changes that saw slow, nagging accuracy replace raw pace. Then disaster struck as Lee, Big Bird Gordine, Marc Wood, Sid Seymour and Tom Chalenor all perished leaving Leigh a huge task to even reach 150. Or so it seemed. If Offham were feeling on top, as they had every right to, then they had clearly not reckoned with the big man. The question was, would anyone stay with him. Thankfully, Luke Grayland first, then Nigel 'Gloves' Shaw helped take the fight to the opposition. Luke played some marvellous shots before departing to allow Nigel to take over. Meanwhile, with a target in sight Ian began his onslaught. There were, how many? Six sixes? By tea, the picture had changed dramatically.

The target always looked too much for Offham who did not help their cause with a needless run out in the first over - a single to Marc Wood at extra cover attempted, a direct hit and up goes Roger Sykes's finger. Further wickets followed from Sid, bowling quickly and penetratingly (1) and Luke (2) to leave Offham struggling at 13 for 4. Subsequent attempts to rebuild were thwarted by tidy fielding from Dave Hollands and accurate and penetrating bowling Clive and Tom Chalenor (including a sharp C&B); Sid took a tidy catch on the deep extra cover boundary. Chopper Harris mopped up the tail and off we went to the Bat & Ball.

Team: Lee (capt); Darren Flint; Marc Wood; Clive Gordine; Ian Linstead; Sid Seymour; Tom Chalenor; Dave Hollands; Nigel Shaw (gloves); Luke Grayland; Ian Harris.

Man of the Match? I wonder who….

Leigh won by 6 wickets

After having lost to St Lawrence in last year's Kent section semi's, revenge was sweet. St Lawrence were clearly weaker, missing a couple of key bowlers and perhaps batsmen too, although Leigh were missing Dave Walshe (injured) and Tom Challoner (unavailable).  New boy Graham 'Sid' Seymour impressed on his debut, however, taking "four fer" as Leigh contained the visitors (who won the toss and chose to bat) on a slow wicket and slower outfield. A necessarily-short boundary encouraged some hitting over the top though, and St Lawrence were lucky to get a couple of sixes which might easily have been caught.  Wickets were lost regularly, however, and, apart from a spell when left-hander Ayling got going, St Lawrence struggled to move forward.  Ayling's lower-middle-order effort, however, gave the visitors close to 150 which looked a challenging target in the conditions.  Whilst Sid was the pick of the bowlers, all the bowlers performed well, Nigel Shaw was inspired behind the stumps, diving around with gay abandon, and a bit of fielding particularly worthy of mention was a cool run out by Darren Flint at extra cover.

In reply, Leigh's task was made harder by the early loss of Darren Flint and skipper Jason Lee before a run had come from the bat.  Clive Gordine and Marc Wood followed without really getting going and it was left to the Big Man, Ian Linstead, together with his colleague of old, Sid Seymour, to steady the ship.  This done, the Saints' bowling attack started to look patchy and in the end the target was reached with overs to spare, Linstead finishing it off with a 4 and a 6 to finish undefeated on 95, including how many sixes, three was it or four?.  Clearly another good winter's nets for l'homme grande.

Team: Lee (capt); Darren Flint; Marc Wood; Clive Gordine; Ian Linstead; Sid Seymour; Steve Hawkins; Dave Hollands; Nigel Shaw (gloves); Luke Grayland; Ian Harris.