Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Off day lets rivals narrow the gap
Kent League
Canterbury’s hopes of landing the Division 1 title took a blow when they suffered a nine-wicket defeat at The Mote on Saturday.
Skipper Max Campbell claimed it was one of those days where everything seemed to go wrong.
He said: “We were missing a few players and I was not feeling well after having food poisoning the day before but we lost the toss, they bowled and we batted like idiots.
“It seemed every five or six runs we’d lose a soft wicket and before long we’re 26-5.”
The city club were skittled for just 84 in Maidstone, with Graeme Francis the only man out of single figures, scoring a gritty 39.
Campbell added: “I wasn’t too confident we could defend it, although stranger things have happened.”
It took the hosts just 16 overs to breeze to victory for the loss of just one wicket, a result which saw them close within nine points of Canterbury – in the last promotion place – with two games to play.
Campbell added: “Justin Macvicar bowled well and they could easily have been 20-5, too. To do it by nine wickets flattered them a bit.
“We go home next week to play Gore Court and hopefully we can get back to winning ways. The destiny of the title might be out of our control but promotion is still in our hands.
“Win our last two games and we go up. It’s that simple.”
Whitstable continued to steer clear of relegation danger with a fine victory at home against Hayes.
Skipper Jake Guinan claimed 3-17 off 10 overs and Tom Phillis claimed 3-34 as Hayes were dismissed for 203.
The hosts lost three wickets early in the reply but Kai Appleby steadied the innings with a superb 93, which featured 15 fours and Phillis added a late 27 as the hosts won with three wickets in hand.
The victory took the Belmont club 23 points clear of the bottom two, with their final game against Canterbury.
St Lawrence & Highland Court were indebted to their middle-order and bowler Andrew Henderson for their win at Upchurch which kept them in the hunt for promotion in Division 2.
Saints were reeling on 37-5 but skipper Will Hilton and Jamie VantHarrison both hit 44 and Tom Shaw added an unbeaten 41 to help guide the visitors to 191-7 from 45 overs in a rain-reduced game.
The hosts were 82-3 in reply but Henderson claimed 5- 25 to see Upchurch reduced to 98-8 and the visitors won by 77 runs to sit third.
Chestfield were edged out in a dramatic finale at relegation-battlers OD Cuaco in Division 3.
They remain in the second promotion place but saw their advantage cut to 13 points by Orpington’s tie with two games remaining after suffering a two- wicket defeat from the penultimate ball.
Opener Dom Chambers hit 30 but it needed a late 45 from No.10 Taylor Chandler and 27 from Jamie Dowkes to see the visitors to a total of 157.
Dylan Hunter claimed 3-33 in reply but OD’S penultimate pair hit the winning runs with a ball to spare to climb out of the relegation zone.
Nine-man Faversham fell well short against Bapchild, losing by 76 runs in Division 5.
There were three wickets each for Jamie Rigden and Phil Rowcroft as the hosts scored 210-9 from their 50 overs.
In reply, however, the 35 scored by Andy Perkin was as good as it got for the visitors who were dismissed for 134 in the 44th over.