Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Getting tight at the top
Kent Village League
Wicketkeeper Jake Smith hit an unbeaten 92 as Ash eased to a seven-wicket win over Stonein-oxney in Kent Village League, Division 1.
The opener shared in successive stands of 56 with Tim Dudgeon (17) and Tom Laslett (20) as Ash comfortably chased down the Stone total of 147-9 in 27.2 overs.
Dudgeon (3-36), Stuart Drakeley (2-32), Jake Ling (2-25) and Peter Gambrell (1-23) had all earlier bowled tight nine-over spells to help keep the Stone batsmen in check.
Only five points now separate the division’s top three, with Ash (38) second, two points behind leaders Wingham and three clear of Littlebourne, who have played a game more than their two rivals.
Wingham were without a game at the weekend but Littlebourne were four-wicket victors over Harbledown in a low-scoring match at Rough Common.
Chasing the home total of 136-9, Bourne got home with just seven balls to spare, thanks largely to 42 from Steve Davies and an unbeaten 20 from Graham Gould.
Opener Greg Shields had earlier batted though all 40 overs for Harbledown to finish 65 not out. Hassan Hossain (24) was one of only two other players to make double figures.
Street End could only field eight players at Sheldwich and without skipper Matthew Goldbacher’s 33 at the top of the order, they would have been completely sunk.
As it was they still only totalled 76 – a score Sheldwich went past in 13.4 overs but not before they had lost five wickets.
Selling slipped to a 23-run defeat in Division 2 at Dymchurch despite Brian Sweeting taking 4-3 in just three overs to help wrap up the home innings for 141.
Second- wicket pair Brad Wretham (46) and Dan Lawrence (25) led the Selling reply but once they had been parted, not one player reached double figures as they were dismissed for 118.
Half- centuries from Adam Cork (63) and Chris Goulden (50), plus 41 from Paul Castle, helped Wingham 2nds chase down a target of 202 against Hunton Wanderers in Division 4.
They got home in the 34th over after James Widerstrom (3-33) and Adam Cork (3-19) had helped rein in Hunton after a flourishing start.
Exiles at Stelling Minnis went down by nine wickets to Kingsnorth, who restricted the visitors to 156 (Dan Price 30) and then hit the winning runs in the 32nd over. Norton fell victim to an outstanding performance by Teston’s Steve Coley as they lost by 61 runs.
Coley’s unbeaten 112 was at the heart of Teston’s 229-5 and he then weighed in with 4-18 as Norton made 168 in reply.
Andrew Neaves (29) top scored for Norton while John Rivers hit 27 .
Boughton-under-blean edged home by seven runs against St Nicholas and Sarre in Division 5 after good knocks by captain David Holmes (66 not out), Tom Hulks (48) and Keith Waters (44) had seen them to 222-9.
Both St Nicholas openers scored half-centuries but Gavin Corbin’s three- wicket burst knocked them off their stride and despite conceding 52 extras – 28 of which were wides – Boughton held on as St Nicholas reached 222-9.
Harbledown 2nds enjoyed a 49-run win over Littlebourne 2nds with Will Halliday (53) and Andy Raines (42) their top scorers in a total of 191-8.
Bourne started well through Robert Lawson (33) and Andy Coleman (30) but only two other players got into double figures as they were dismissed for 142. James Moss took 4-22 from his nine overs.
Skipper Daniel James made 52 from No.8 as Chestfield piled up 278-9 against Pett in Division 6. Matthew Nordin added 47 and Tom Barton 45.
Pett reached 226-9 in reply, Nordin taking 3-61 from nine overs and Sam Robson 3-15 in four.
Sturry eased to an 88-run win over Loose & Leeds after Bob Goddard (9-7-2-4) and skipper Aaron Pout ( 8- 1- 17- 3) had helped dismiss the visitors for just 64. Opener Mark Reynolds (63) had played the day’s key innings, with Scott Curtis adding 31 in the Sturry total of 152.