Division 1 champions St Lawrence & Highland Court and Holmesdale promoted to the Kent Cricket League Premier Division; Hayes, Bickley Park, Minster, Bexley and Blackheath end season with wins
Published: 05:00, 05 September 2022
Updated: 11:08, 05 September 2022
Kent pair Harry Podmore and Darren Stevens helped St Lawrence & Highland Court end a 12-year wait to return to the Kent League Premier Division as they went up as champions.
St Lawrence beat Canterbury at home on Saturday by 88 runs to finish three points ahead of second-placed Holmesdale who also have been promoted, beating Bromley Common by seven wickets.
Batting first, St Lawrence posted 213-7 thanks largely to Stevens (103) and Will Hilton who added 52, opening bowler Jarred Lysaught (3-29) the best of Canterbury’s bowlers. Podmore opened for St Lawrence and contributed 12.
Duncan Moore (28) and Owen Griffiths, 27, dug in for Canterbury but they were 125 all out in 37 overs. Opening bowler Ben Trott (3-29) was best with the ball for the hosts in a fine all-round display on a huge day for the club.
Stevens has, however, not been selected in Kent's 13-strong squad for their County Championship Division 1 match at home to Essex which starts from today.
Newly-crowned Premier Division champions Hayes earned a 111-run victory over Sandwich Town who narrowly avoided relegation.
There were centuries for opener James Bamber (126) and William MacVicar, 102 off just 78 balls, as Hayes reached 318-5. Sandwich skipper Jan Gray, 3-67, took three of the five Hayes wickets to fall.
In reply, Jake Smith scored 47 but Sandwich were all out for 207 in the 41st over. Connor Byrne (4-46) did well.
That means Bickley Park finished second-bottom and are relegated despite their four-wicket win against Sevenoaks Vine.
Michael Cowdrey (59) did well for Sevenoaks who posted 186-9 from their allocation despite Bickley Park opening bowler Jason Benn, 3-15, impressing from his 10 overs.
Bickley Park openers Elliot Hooper (54) and Charlie Smith (62 not out) then helped them home in the 46th over, James Logan - with figures of 3-35 from his 10 overs - the best of Sevenoaks’ bowlers.
Second-placed Minster rounded off their season by hammering basement boys Beckenham.
Home side Minster won the toss and elected to bat with Beckenham fielding a mostly young attack – all products of their successful youth scheme.
Openers James Thompson and Ed Moore started steadily against Beckenham opening bowlers Harri Aravinthan and James Ronay.
Both bowlers performed well until Minster's pair decided to unleash the heavy artillery as Moore raced to 50 in 35 balls and Thompson followed in 65 balls. Ishan Sabharwal (1-38) eventually got the first wicket to fall, however a stunning 157 not out from Thompson got Minster up to 353-4 from their 50 overs.
On what was now turning out to be a good pitch, Gethin Roberts immediately started to take the fight to Minster with a confident start.
Captain Alex Senn’s awful season with the bat ended in familiar fashion when he tamely holed out against the left-arm spin of Essex man Aron Nijjar but, offering resistance, Roberts struck his debut first-team half-century as he ended up on 79.
Minster skipper Moore was forced to ring the changes as Beckenham’s score rocketed towards 150 with only one wicket down but 153-1 quickly became 189-6, James Fear - 74 off 63 balls - among those to go. James Balmforth (23 not out) rallied the tail to record only Beckenham’s first maximum batting bonus-points of the season as the final wicket fell on 250, ending Beckenham’s 11-year stint in the Premier Division.
For Minster, Kai Appleby, with figures of 3-19, was best with the ball.
Third-placed Bexley ended their campaign with an away success over Tunbridge Wells, who came fifth.
Openers Shaun Evans (78) and Aiden Griggs (60) set the away side on their way to 237-7. Matthew Barker, with 5-43, in good form for Tunbridge Wells.
Viraj Bhatia (65) ensured Tunbridge Wells made a reasonable fist of their run-chase, although they were 203 all out in the 48th over. Adam Riley (3-46) and opening bowler Jas Singh (3-47) collected three wickets each for Bexley.
Fourth-placed Blackheath beat seventh-placed Lordswood by eight wickets.
Captain Ed Taylor (90) guided Lordswood to 223-9 from their 50 overs while Arafat Bhuiyan, 3-32, was the pick of Blackheath’s bowlers.
Half-centuries from Tanweer Sikandar (83 not out) and opener Tejpal Birdi (59), supported by skipper Ross Richardson’s 46 not out, saw them ease over the line as they reached 225-2 in the 43rd over.
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Bexley and Bromley Sport Canterbury Sport Isle of Sheppey Sport Kent Cricket Medway Sport Sandwich Sport Sevenoaks Sport Sport Tunbridge Wells SportMore by this author
Thomas Reeves