Littlebourne fall just short
Division 4 Division 5
Staplehurst narrowly missed out on promotion after losing the final day showdown against Old Colfeians. The pair met on Saturday with second place up for grabs.
Hosts Staplehurst, starting the day behind champions Kings Hill, batted first after winning the toss and posted 213-7. Sam McConnel top scored with 47.
Staplehurst made a great start with the ball. The Old Boys were two down with only eight runs on the board, but Josh Kelleher went on to score 110 and Peter Tarrant added 50.
The visitors got home with just five balls remaining, for a three-wicket victory.
Bapchild needed a win to escape the drop but lost by four wickets to Frindsbury and finished bottom of the pile.
Having been asked to bat, Bapchild were bowled out for 131. In reply Frindsbury (133-6) got home in the 36th over, a win that saw them finish the season in third, sandwiched between Old Colfeians and Staplehurst. Addington Village, who started the weekend bottom, won their final game of the season against Rainham. An 84-run victory lifted them off the bottom but they were already destined for relegation.
The Villagers batted first and posted 240. In reply, Rainham were bowled out for 156.
Champions Kings Hill ended the season with a defeat. They lost by 28 runs against mid-table Downham & Bellingham
Downham made 213-9 and then bowled Kings Hill out for 185. Stewart Barnes took 5-31 for the victors.
High Halstow didn’t need a win in the end but they made sure they weren’t relying on others to stay up. They comfortably beat Walmer by 155 runs after bowling them out for 98.
Individual honours in the division went to leading run scorer Andrew Maurice, of High Halstow, who got 602 in the summer.
Leading wicket taker was Old Colfeians’ Alex Lorimer with 41. Shaun McMurray (Kings Hill) and Chris Mumford (Frindsbury) both got 39. There were no movers in the Division 5 table on the final week of the season. Littlebourne missed out on a top-two spot by just three points. They beat Chislehurst & West Kent by four wickets with Buzz Gould playing a starring role, hitting 60 with the bat after earlier taking three wickets.
One of Gould’s victims was Arya Dash (71), Chislehurst’s top-scorer. Chasing 206, Littlebourne knocked the runs off in 27.2 overs with Tony Beer hitting
56.
The Roebucks were beaten but picked up enough points to ensure they remained second.
They lost by just nine runs against Offham and picked up four bowling points and another one for batting. Abis Zulfiqar took 4-32 as Offham were bowled out for 142.
The Roebucks had chased down 238 a few weeks before, against Chislehurst, but were unable to knock the runs off this time around. Their top order failed to deliver and only Chris Lewis (50) made any sizeable contribution as they were all out for 133. Betteshanger finished bottom of the table. Batting first against Bexley 3rds, they were all out for 102. Bexley knocked the runs off in 18.3 overs. Rodmersham finished outside the promotion places but finished the season in style, defeating champions Bromley Town by 10 runs after successfully defending 284-8.
Kevin Jones was Rodmersham’s main man with the bat, scoring 116. In reply, Bromley reached 274-9 before running out of overs.
Sam Weller took 6-63 to help Hartley Country Club to a three-wicket victory over Faversham.
Weller dismissed the top three batsmen, bowling out both of Faversham’s opener with each of them scoring just a single run. Benedict Croft (44) top scored for Faversham, who were all out for 152 before Hartley knocked the runs off in less than 40 overs.