Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Betts maintains his impressive run
Without the Goulds, bottom of Division 1, Littlebourne did well to fulfil Sunday’s fixture with Street End 1 but, with a scratch side, were thrashed by 123 runs.
Street End opener Paul Betts – who has a batting average of 83.75 from nine innings – carried his bat for another half-century.
With Bob Spence not out 30 and Matt Goldbacher and Sacha Azizi each reaching the 20s, Street End totalled 150-4.
Littlebourne were shot out for 27, Goldbacher taking 3-8 and Spence two wickets at no cost.
So close is the race between the three clubs at the top of the league that, until the final ball is bowled on January 15, they will treat their remaining three games as cup finals.
Gravesend 1 and defending champions Christ Church University 1 went two points clear when Canterbury 1 lost by six wickets – to Gravesend, who have scored more than 1,200 runs in 11 matches.
Although Canterbury’s Max Campbell took a wicket in their first over, Rana (38 not) and Ohri (33) enjoyed a secondwicket partnership that enabled Gravesend to make 114-5. Campbell took 3-18.
In a hectic finale to Canterbury’s innings, he was one of four batsmen run out in a vain attempt to get two points.
Stuart Drakeley (35 not) and Brewster Surridge (27) had opened with a half-century stand but Canterbury’s run rate had left the tail with too much to do. From the last over they required 19 runs but only managed 12.
Of late CCCU have not been making huge totals but, after two successive defeats, their 98-3 was enough against Whitstable 1, a player short.
Aidan Griggs (30) and Jack Belmont (26) were both not out for CCCU before, despite 28 from James Loader, Whitstable were all out for 61.
The strength of the university teams knows no bounds. UKC 1 may not be in the running for honours, but when they batted first against Canterbury 2, the gap between the first four sides and the last four was widened to eight points.
The five UKC batsmen who went to the crease all got into the 20s, no one was out and Canterbury were set a target of 134. They failed by 29 runs.
Halfway through the Second Division season, CCCU 2 look like running away with the title after beating Whitstable 2 by five wickets. Making his second appearance for Whitstable, ex-kent bowler Julian Thompson discovered – as if he did not know already – that indoors the younger players have an advantage.
Batting No 3, Thompson was run out for 23 and, although Ben Rutherford (30 not) took Whitstable to 76-5, CCCU knocked off the runs for the loss of one wicket in the eighth over.
Thompson, whose first ball was a wide, took 0-16 in two overs.
One of the most absorbing contests was between UKC 2 and Street End 2. Chasing the students’ 104-1, Street End closed on 102 for five thanks mainly to the efforts of 15-year-old Joe Goldbacher, not out 42. Street End needed 16 from the last over. They scored 13.
For the second successive year Broadstairs Under-15s completed a league/cup double with victories over Whitstable and, in a tense final, Chestfield Red Caps.
In the semi-finals, Broadstairs beat Whitstable by five wickets and Chestfield bowled out Canterbury A for 33 after making 149-3.
After scoring 100-4, the Red Caps took Broadstairs to the final over, the champions winning with three balls and three wickets in hand.