Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Shah stars with the ball
Kent League
Canterbury thumped Folkestone by six wickets to move within a point of Kent League Division 1 summit.
Aadarsh Shah claimed 4-34 and Justin Macvicar and Ben Cooper took two each as Folkestone were bowled out for 154 in the final over.
When Campbell went for 29 with the score on 71-3 there were a few nerves but Peter Jordan (44 not out) and Stuart Drakeley (37) guided the visitors to the line inside 32 overs.
Whitstable sit bottom of the table after a thrilling tie against Sandwich – who have tied two of their opening five games.
Kai Appleby made 92 with six sixes and six fours and shared 122 with Stuart Sinclair (65) for the third wicket.
Sam Denly (39 not out) joined Appleby to put on 61 for the fourth wicket and the hosts eventually posted 245-5. Whitstable made the perfect start to the reply and the visitors were 6-2 and 85-4. The game looked won on 1468 but the ninth-wicket pair of Oliver Collins (34 not out) and skipper Craig Spanton (57) guided the visitors to level the scores before Spanton was run-out trying to win it off from the final ball by Scott Dale’s throw from deep mid-wicket. Dale claimed 2-51 with the ball while Josh Lock took 3-28 from 10 overs. St Lawrence & Highland Court were also involved in last ball drama in Division 2, having to settle for a tie at As h f o r d Town. K i t Sims hit 44 but it took an unbeaten from No.9 32 Ruaridh Macleod to guide his side from 136-6 to reach 200-8 at the close. St Lawrence were indebted to some good fielding with three run-outs.
Ashford looked certain winners at 181-2 but collapsed to 198-6 before Peter Shields was run out by Sims off the final ball trying to win it.
The result left third-placed St Lawrence nine points adrift of Upchurch in second.
Chestfield fell well short in a run-chase at Catford & Cyphers to lose ground in Division 3.
Arron Bennett bowled tightly to pick up 3-27 from 15 overs and Tim Collins claimed 3-48 but the hosts amassed 201-9 from their 50 overs, thanks in large part to Faisal Naveed’s 83.
Naveed also proved Chestfield’s tormentor with the ball as he collected 8-37 with Duncan Brown’s 32 in a 49-stand for the second wicket with Dylan Hunter (26) the sole resistance as they were bowled out for 132 in 35 overs.
Lee Rigden hit 48 but Faversham suffered a three-wicket home defeat to Chislehurst & West Kent.
Sam Fruin and Vince Taylor were the only other ones into double figures as the hosts were dismissed for 108 in 38 overs and although Jamie Rigden claimed 3-16 off 10 overs and Phil Rowcroft 3-32, the visitors recovered from 78-6 to win in 34 overs.