Two for one - Match Reports for Mayfield threes v Linden Park and Heathfield twos.

July 6, 2019, Linden Park 3rd XI, away.

With availability being better than it had been for several weeks, the threes took to the field - and a decent enough field it was as well, the match being played at Groombridge CC, a pretty little ground - with a strengthened side, if a little light in the bowling department.
The Linden Park skipper won the toss and declared his intention to bat first. Alasdair Bird and Felix Holt opened the bowling and it wasn’t long before young Felix took a wicket, bowling opener James Corner for just 11. But while Linden Park, in these early stages, were hardly scoring runs with abandon, wickets proved hard to come by. Ollie Chaplin had the aggressive number 3, Cameron Cummings, caught at deep mid-on by Andy Parker for 48, but this, and Felix's earlier wicket, brought skipper Kevin Anson and David Thomas together at the crease.
Anson had a long and distinguished career for Linden Park first team, with 7 league centuries and an average of over 40 playing in the first division of the Kent League, one down from Prem. His class was immediately apparent, driving imperiously off the front foot and cutting beautifully through the off-side off the back, though he was matched in effectiveness if not finesse, by Thomas at the other end. Indeed, once Anson was bowled by Macdonald for a quick-fire 45, Thomas decided very big sixes were to be the order of the day. In an innings of 65, he struck 7 of the very best and four 4’s, having obviously decided running wasn’t really necessary….
Everyone stuck as well as they could to bowling decent lines and lengths, but we gave away 33 extras, far too many, and despite Finn Kirkland bowling Thomas for 65 and Jake Callow running out Hlatshwayo, we could only muster 5 wickets from the 7 bowlers used. Linden Park just the five down, then, for a substantial 284 from their 40 overs.
Mayfield really needed contributions from their top order if there was to be a favourable outcome for the team. But the top three could only manage 11 runs between them and it was only Nick Chaplin, in at 4 and Jake Callow at 5, who redressed the balance somewhat. It was the introduction of Raymond Hlatshwayo, the Linden Park second team off-spinner, however, who did for Chaplin, bowling him for a well-struck 41, while opener Josh Mudge had Callow caught for 18. Ollie Chaplin kept things in the family by also being bowled by Hlatshwayo for just 5 and that, as they say, was pretty much that. Mayfield, top six batters out for 75 runs between them, 41 of them scored by just one batsman.
Finn Kirkland at 7 did what he could, looking good in scoring 15 and Felix Holt at 8 showed just what a talent he could, and will be, in scoring 20 before both fell victim to Steve Spicer’s off spin. Macdonald (13 n.o.) at number 10 and Parker at 11 ensured the Mayfield team weren’t bowled out, but the team managed just 146 in their innings, a pretty lame reply to what was a pretty good batting effort from Linden Park.

July 13 2019, Heathfield 2nd XI, home

Yet more personnel changes meant the threes went to Stonegate with just 4 players from the previous week. In came Jack Kirkland, Joe Joyce, James Gower, Jamie Bird and Steve Malkin, with youngster Adam Howard completing the changes.
Heathfield skipper Connor Davis won the toss and sensibly elected to bat. Mayfield opened the bowling with Malkin and Bird and Heathfield lost their first wicket with the score on 25, Dave Simmonds well caught by keeper Finn Kirkland low and to his right, off the bowling of Malkin for 4. And then, other than opener James Bentley with 37, the Heathfield top order failed to fire, as the next 5 wickets fell for just 22 runs. But the fact they scored few runs tells just part of the story. And the less exciting part of it, at that.
The real story of the Heathfield innings was the wonderful success of the youngsters who bowled for the club, with Joe Joyce leading the way. Not-quite-so-young Birdy did his usual – beat the bat countless times, bowled with heat and huge enthusiasm, and took one wicket for 29 off his 9 overs – and Gower bowled a tidy spell of 6 overs, one wicket for 27; but, remarkably, the young ‘uns Joyce, Howard and Jack Kirkland took 7 of the 10 Heathfield wickets to fall.
Joe bowled with intelligence and courage and should have had more than ‘just’ the four wickets he took. Had old-man Joyce held onto a regulation slip catch, Gower grabbed for keeps one off the toe of the bat while fielding at (very) short mid-wicket, it’s conceivable Joe could have ended with a six-fer!
Yes, he dragged a couple short and was duly punished as is wont to happen in adult cricket, but the courage came with the way he would immediately throw it up thereafter, give it some air and thereby land it on the right spot. Joe Joyce - remember that name - bowled beautifully.
Adam Howard bowled a very impressive 6 over spell, too, and took one for 30 whilst bowling in tandem with Joe, while Jack Kirkland took the last two wickets to fall for Heathfield once Joe had completed his 9 over spell. Heathfield skipper Connor Davis scored 22 and Dave Williams ended up 40 not out coming in at 9, but once again the three were guilty of giving too many runs away – 41 extras all told, with 21 byes and 11 wides, in an innings total of 187.
Yes, it was probably 30 runs more than they should have scored, but the Heathfield total was surely one well within reach?
Mayfield lost their first wicket on 16, Joycey caught at slip off the bowling of Connor Davis. Gower looked good for his 12, but was well caught at mid-off, a fine, one-handed effort from the skipper Davis - one of those ‘they either stick or they don’t’ catches. Gilkes seemed almost back to his best in scoring 38 (including 9 fours!) before offering up a return catch to bowler Graham French but Finn Kirkland steadied the ship once again with a fine, concise 25, executing the cut shot nicely, as people of his stature often can. But Mayfields’ patience also meant they were falling behind the run rate, especially once the excellent James Bentley came on, bowling darts and proving very difficult to get away.
Jamie Bird, in at 7, began slowly though, fully aware of the need to bat through. Macdonald, in at 8 once the admirable innings of Finn Kirkland came to an end, kept him company for a while in scoring 13 before being caught at long-on trying, in typically vain and over-ambitious fashion, to hit over the top.
But Birdy had timed his innings perfectly. There were a few chances offered and a lot of energy expended in the simple act of missing the ball, but in the 38th over, Birdy decided it was time to switch it on. Two or three sixes later and with 60 (not out) to his name, Mayfield were the winners, hitting 191 for 8 in reply to Heathfields’ innings of 187.
A win again at last, but I, for one, will remember the game not so much for that, but for the magnificent way the two Kirklands, Junior Joyce and Adam Howard conducted themselves and grew in cricketing stature as the match progressed. Their careers in this most wonderful sport will be well worth watching in the years to come.