Blackaby becomes the home town hero
THERE’S no better feeling than getting a career-best score to defeat the reigning champions and hand your home town club a first win of the season, that’s according to Luke Blackaby who did just that on Saturday.
The Holmesdale all-rounder smashed an unbeaten 139 to help his struggling side to their first win of the season against title holders Hartley Country Club in the Kent Premier League, boosting their survival hopes in the process.
Holmesdale chased down a revised total of 321 with the 26-year-old smashing a six to complete the famous victory – which had looked incredibly unlikely at the halfway stage in the game.
For Blackaby it was one of the highlights of his career, which has covered nearly 200 league matches, while he has also played first class cricket for Durham MCCU.
But across all those games, the 26year-old admits it was hard to pick out a better afternoon than this one.
He said: “It’s a terrific feeling, it has been a tough season personally and for the team. I’ve been injured for half the season and coming back we were bottom and hadn’t won a game.
“So to then be chasing 320 we had the attitude of ‘let’s just go for it and see how we end up’. When it finished it was an amazing feeling.
“For our first win of the season to come against the defending champions, who have won the league for six of the last nine years it was quite the feeling.
“It’s a pretty high achievement in my cricketing career, in terms of matchwinning knocks you cannot beat that.
“To finish with a six, it was a nice way to go, the boys started cheering so I knew it had gone all the way.”
Blackaby, who won the top division with Sevenoaks Vine, returned to his boyhood club and helped steer them through the divisions to the Premier League again, earning promotion to the top flight last season.
And despite losing their first ten games of the season, Blackaby is confident they can get themselves out of trouble and survive, even if they currently find themselves well adrift at the foot of the table.
He said: “It’s brilliant for the team, it gives us a real lift going into the rest of the season with seven games to go.
“It gives us confidence and hopefully we can stay in the division.
“Since I came back to Holmesdale, which is my home club, we have gone up from Division Two to the Premier League in [two] consecutive years which is a cool journey.
“It has pretty much been the same team all the way through. We haven’t been beaten badly by any team this year.
“It has been marginal but to get over the line is such a lift and everyone is in great spirits after Saturday so hopefully we can take that forward in the next few weeks.”