Kentish Express Ashford & District
Leaders edge narrow win
Premier Division
Beckenham strengthened their spot at the top of the Premier Division with a one-wicket win over Canterbury.
Beckenham restricted the hosts to 199 all out following 4-38 from William MacVicar.
Rithik Hari and Stuart Binny then scored half-centuries as the away side recovered from a poor start to their reply to reach 200-9 with three balls to spare.
Canterbury found themselves 0-1 when Justin MacVicar was bowled first ball by MacVicar, who claimed the wicket of Bradley Goldsack shortly after.
Ben Rutherford, who saw Isaac Rahman trapped lbw by MacVicar, attempted to repair his side’s innings before he was run out for 40 by Beckenham skipper Alex Senn.
Beckenham were 3-2 in reply having lost both openers Senn and Finnan Bryan for ducks to Jemuel Cabey.
MacVicar responded with 32 before Hari and Binny produced a defining partnership worth 107.
Bickley Park won by 25 runs against Lordswood after a key knock from wicketkeeper Safwaan Imitiaz.
Bickley slipped to 21-3 after two wickets from Chris Piesley.
Imitiaz rallied to an unbeaten 81 from 107 deliveries as Bickley finished all out for 157, with Taylor Chandler and Jack Laraman taking three wickets each.
Lordswood didn’t start much better with the bat, falling to 23-2.
Sean Dickson could only manage 15 as Adeel Malik went on to take 5-33, a decisive haul in a total of 132 all out.
At the bottom of the table, Blackheath beat HSBC by 135 runs in their bid to avoid relegation.
Mohammad Ashraful (58) top scored for Blackheath but Slater Alan (4-30) helped restrict them to 216-9.
HSBC’s reply never got going and they were 22-2 following the wickets of openers Sam Perks and Richard Golbourn.
Dipayan Paul eventually racked up figures of 6- 23 alongside Rishi Roy-Mukherjee’s 3-4 to bowl HSBC out for just 81.
Sandwich won by 44 runs as they hosted Bexley at The Butts.
Their decision to bat was met by little reward early on as Zack Fagg went for a duck and both Ben Smith and Rory Smith were dismissed by Adam Ball for seven each.
Cameron Fletcher hit a patient 38 from 83 deliveries, followed by Alex Smith’s 28, as Sandwich were dismissed for 161.
Bexley also endured a tough start with the bat, losing both Matt Cross and Shaun Evans for three apiece and seeing Matthew Stiddard bowled by Craig Spanton for 13.
Calum Basey top scored on 28 until he fell to Jan Gray (3-14) as one of four catches made by Fagg on the day.
George Haley went for 27 as Bexley finished all out on 117, with Ashleigh Cox having claimed 3- 27 and Matt Van Poppel chipping in with 2-9.
Tunbridge Wells recorded a 95-run victory at home to Sevenoaks Vine.
Put in to bat, Wells were boosted by a 102-run partnership between Christopher Williams (62) and Sam Stickler (37).
Alexander Williams added another 51 alongside an unbeaten 38 from Julian O’Riordan as Tunbridge posted 235-5.
Vine opened with 35 in reply from Evert Bekker. Adam Rouse top scored with 42 among eight single-digit contributions, while Isaac Bepey bagged 3-23.
The Kent man was finally caught by Stickler off Mark Mclean as Vine were bowled out for 140.