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Former England international cricketer Monty Panesar was hit for six by a Tenterden teenager.
Fifteen-year-old Ruben Coleman is known more for his own impressive spin bowling at Tenterden Cricket Club but when he was moved up the batting order during the club’s cricket-week fixture he showed he can handle the bat too.
His first half-century at senior level came despite facing a player who had taken 167 wickets during his 50 Test appearances for England.
Coleman top scored for Tenterden’s midweek XI with 64 runs and that including a tremendous shot to hit the spin bowler for six.
Club treasurer Guy Day was watching on and said: “He normally bowls and bats low but he went into bat at no.3 and he must have been thinking, ‘Monty might bowl at me,’ then he might have thought ‘he might get me out or maybe I will score a run off him, maybe I might score four’ but he probably wouldn’t have thought that he would hit him for six and land it on the patio!
“It was brilliant for him. His highest score in adult cricket wasn’t a lot and that was his first 50 in adult cricket. Monty was bowling properly from what I could tell. He just bowled, he did nothing different, he wasn’t thinking ‘oh, it’s a kid’.”
Panesar took four wickets for the Jack Massey XI, a team put together by one of Tenterden’s sponsors who runs the company Dolmen Conservation. It’s a match, part of the club's cricket week, that has become a regular fixture at Morghew Park. Wednesday's game ended in a draw.
While 38-year-old cult figure Panesar was clearly the star name during the match it was Coleman taking the plaudits and he looks set to have some future, particularly now he has shown he can deliver with the bat too.
Last year he appeared for the club’s 2nd XI in the Kent Cricket League. He took 35 wickets last year, including a five-wicket haul for the 1sts in a friendly match.
“He is really good but really a bowler,” said Day.
“He is technically correct, he has had all the coaching but his batting coming on is a feather to his bow, as oppose to being something massively important, because it is all about his bowling.”
