Catford Cyphers 1s consolidated after promotion, 2s are promoted, 3s a strong season and likewise 4s who will just miss out on promotion. All in all not a bad season. They would be a very strong club if they could find a 2nd pitch nearer to home
As for lolwray himself, his season came to an end in early July after a bout of sciatica. Ironically as the season draws to a close he has recovered but now no cricket to play .
Our ones and 3s missed out on promotion both finishing 3rd in their respective divisions and somehow the team who finished 2nd in the thirds division had the wrong score up showing they’d been stuffed and our lot started celebrating before a couple of hours later the score was corrected 🤦♂️ Twos, my team, go up as Champions to division 7 of Mid Essex Cricket League just want to complete a full season next year cos last two seasons have been curtailed by injury … getting old now 54 and there’s always something snapping pulling etc
That comment about age reminds me of a chap called Darrell Carter who I've known for almost 40 years and who is currently at Whitstable. He has had a number of clubs but in his heyday was one of the top seamers around playing for the likes of Blackheath, Beckenham, Bexley and Hartley (in one of the bests sides there has ever been in the Kent League with the likes of Min Patel, Sam Billings, Matt Coles, James Thompson, Andrew Tutt, James Hockley etc etc).
Anyway, he's been at Whistable for three years and has been turning out for their 2s and 3s. Until Saturday that is when he made his first team debut in the Championship, the second tier of the Kent League. He opened the bowling and failed to take a wicket but if I say he returned 0-35 off 10 overs out of Beckenham's total of 287-7 off 50 overs, it won't surprise people to learn that he was their most economic bowler. Darrell will be 57 next month so there's certainly life in the old dog.
As a side note, also in the Whitstable 1s is Darrell's teenage son, Finn who is a strapping 6' 4'' plus. But unlike his Dad he's not a quick bowler - he's a keeper batsman but if he's going to carry on with the gloves he might need to stop growing soon. Finn played for Scotland U17 this summer and his 19 year old sister, Darcey, will have even bigger things on the agenda next month as she is in Scotland's World Cup team who are due to play Bangladesh, West Indies, South Africa and England in the Group stages. Darcey is a batter/spinner. The seam bowling genes do not appear to have been passed down to either of his kids.
Honestly a perfect victory on Saturday. We bowled superbly to restrict Burgess Park 2s to 96 all out. They never really had a partnership mainly because our opener, Praveen, had them on strings (9-5-8-3) and bowled two unplayable deliveries to their best bats - genuinely think they'd have had nearly anyone's name on them.
In the chase, I very deliberately sent out two of our - let's say slower - batsmen, who dug in to see off the new ball and their best bowlers. No quick singles, and I was pleased when the first wicket fell at 19/1 off 13.4 overs. Boring? Yes. The right call? Absolutely, as our numbers 3 and 4 made 40 and 30 at just better than a run a ball when they had to find other ideas. The 9(46) and 10(65) from our openers was unironically just as important: if we were 10/2 off 4 overs then there's a lot more danger in the chase.
Well yesterday was an intriguing finale at both ends of the table of the KPL
First and definitely least, the battle of the wooden spoon. Canterbury invited their visitors, Bickley, to bat on what was a pitch that was very damp at one end. Having lost a couple of wickets early on, Bickley's opener, Cam Hawkins, carried on regardless like a train, though fortunate himself not to have been derailed on several occasions, before succumbing for 38 off 30 balls. Following a circumspect start, Seb started to impose himself to the extent that he hit Canterbury's overseas, the Aussie domicled/Italian international, Anthony Mosaca, out of the attack with 15 off 5 balls. A few overs later Seb was gone for 35 (36), the first of three LBW victims to Canterbury's leggie, Syan Bulathsinhala, to a ball that got up ankle high. Michael Ridley hung about with little support, ending 35* (55) to get Bickley to 169 all out.
Canterbury opted on that wicket to bat only one way and at one stage were 72-5 off 12 overs. With the score on 118, Bickley took the big wicket of Mosca for 45 (46), swiftly followed by another three wickets to leave Canterbury on 126-9 and still needing another 44 for victory. Game over. Well it certainly looked that way, but not in favour of Bickley, once Bulathsinhala, marshalling his tail ender partner, Cameron Wilshaw, to the brink at 169-9 and scores level. At that point Wilshaw tried to pull a ball only to be caught on the edge of the ring. Match tied with MOM Bulathsinala stranded on 47* (80) to add to his bowling figures of 10-1-27-4. Elliot Hooper for Bickley returned 10-2-27-5.
So honours shared and Bickley managing to avoid bottom place by a single point. That said, as I indicated last week, this has been the tightest KPL probably of all time as reflected by the fact that Bickley will go down having lost the fewest number of matches (9) in the win/loss era. In fact, Holmesdale have joined runaway champions, Bromley, in being promoted to the KPL with just 3 less defeats than Bickley sustained. The Houdini's that are Sandwich, for the third consecutive season, finished third bottom.
The real story of the day, though, came at the top. Going into the matches, Minster were 6 points clear of Blackheath and playing a St Lawrence & HC side with little to play for and without their two big players namely Darren Stevens and their overseas, Jason Sangha (the small matter of 861 runs at an average of 43.05 between them). Blackheath needed to hope that Minster would trip up and that they could beat Tunbridge Wells to seal the title.
Minster won the toss and elected to field which looked the right decision with St Lawrence on 74-6. Even at 124-8 it was questionable whether St Lawrence would muster any sort of meaningful target but thanks to John Grewar with 67* (95) they managed to get to 184-9 off their 50. Meanwhile, Blackheath seemed to be doing their best to throw their chances away - having been inserted, they managed just 136 and that was thanks purely to the efforts of their opener and captain, Charlie Sid-Speller, with 56 (96). Minster, for their part, steadily lost wickets but, bizarrely, given the calibre of batsmen at their disposal and two young spinners facing them, were doing so without any seeming intent. They ended up 148 all out (136 off the bat) from 47.4 overs to lose by 36 runs. So, it was all over to Blackheath and their attempt to stop a Tunbridge Wells side with the likes of Marcus O'Riordan in their line up. 21-0 became 24-3 and then 81-7. A partnership of 23 between Barker and Freeman took them to 104-7 and within 33 runs of winning, But then, bang, bang, bang and 106 all out. Blackheath had won by 30 runs but, more to the point, were Kent Premier League Champions.
What a finish to the season. Some five weeks before, Minster were running away with the title but four defeats and an abandoned match wiped out their big lead. Credit to Blackheath, though, who, following their loss to Minster on 13th July, won seven of their final eight games with the other match being an abandonment. You just couldn't write this season in the KPL.
Quite nerve wracking up at Rectory for the sizeable crowd watching the end of the Blackheath match. Teams went off for bad light with Tunbridge behind on D/L. Managed to get back on and the overseas Riley Ayre snared a wicket first ball. After that it was only a matter of time. Cue massive celebrations. The 6th team got promoted and the 2nds just avoided relegation from Div 2 after being promoted last season. I made my excuses at midnight and went home a bit worse for wear.
REST IN PEACE - MICKEY O'CALLAGHAN (SHOOTERS HILL CC)
Rest in Peace
Mickey O'Callaghan
Shooters Hill CC
Dated - 5th September 2024
The Kent Cricket League have been notified of the recent passing of Mickey O'Callaghan.
He was a fundamental part of Junior Cricket in the Greenwich Borough, bringing on the next generation at Shooters Hill CC.
Obituary and funeral arrangements will follow in due course.
M O’C was a Charlton fan and I first met him nearly 50 years ago when he played football with my dad at Metrogas which was based at Horn Lane back then I then went on to play cricket with him for Metrogas and Shooters Hill and went on many a cricket tour to the New Forest back in the 90s early 00’s he was a positive man who loved his sport and Charlton . RIP Micky
REST IN PEACE - MICKEY O'CALLAGHAN (SHOOTERS HILL CC)
Rest in Peace
Mickey O'Callaghan
Shooters Hill CC
Dated - 5th September 2024
The Kent Cricket League have been notified of the recent passing of Mickey O'Callaghan.
He was a fundamental part of Junior Cricket in the Greenwich Borough, bringing on the next generation at Shooters Hill CC.
Obituary and funeral arrangements will follow in due course.
M O’C was a Charlton fan and I first met him nearly 50 years ago when he played football with my dad at Metrogas which was based at Horn Lane back then I then went on to play cricket with him for Metrogas and Shooters Hill and went on many a cricket tour to the New Forest back in the 90s early 00’s he was a positive man who loved his sport and Charlton . RIP Micky
I didn't have the pleasure of knowing Mickey myself but my eldest played games with him a decade or so ago for Shooters Hill. On another sad note, I see that Graham Briggs has passed away too. He was responsible, through his backing, for much of the success of Bromley CC and latterly for that of Roebucks CC.
REST IN PEACE - MICKEY O'CALLAGHAN (SHOOTERS HILL CC)
Rest in Peace
Mickey O'Callaghan
Shooters Hill CC
Dated - 5th September 2024
The Kent Cricket League have been notified of the recent passing of Mickey O'Callaghan.
He was a fundamental part of Junior Cricket in the Greenwich Borough, bringing on the next generation at Shooters Hill CC.
Obituary and funeral arrangements will follow in due course.
M O’C was a Charlton fan and I first met him nearly 50 years ago when he played football with my dad at Metrogas which was based at Horn Lane back then I then went on to play cricket with him for Metrogas and Shooters Hill and went on many a cricket tour to the New Forest back in the 90s early 00’s he was a positive man who loved his sport and Charlton . RIP Micky
Sad sad news. Micky was a top bloke and dedicated an enormous amount of his time to running youth cricket. Played in a dads and lads Sunday side with him at Shoots around 15-20 years ago and we’d always talk about the rivalry back in the 80s between LBG and the Gas. RIP Micky O
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As for lolwray himself, his season came to an end in early July after a bout of sciatica. Ironically as the season draws to a close he has recovered but now no cricket to play .
Anyway, he's been at Whistable for three years and has been turning out for their 2s and 3s. Until Saturday that is when he made his first team debut in the Championship, the second tier of the Kent League. He opened the bowling and failed to take a wicket but if I say he returned 0-35 off 10 overs out of Beckenham's total of 287-7 off 50 overs, it won't surprise people to learn that he was their most economic bowler. Darrell will be 57 next month so there's certainly life in the old dog.
As a side note, also in the Whitstable 1s is Darrell's teenage son, Finn who is a strapping 6' 4'' plus. But unlike his Dad he's not a quick bowler - he's a keeper batsman but if he's going to carry on with the gloves he might need to stop growing soon. Finn played for Scotland U17 this summer and his 19 year old sister, Darcey, will have even bigger things on the agenda next month as she is in Scotland's World Cup team who are due to play Bangladesh, West Indies, South Africa and England in the Group stages. Darcey is a batter/spinner. The seam bowling genes do not appear to have been passed down to either of his kids.
In the chase, I very deliberately sent out two of our - let's say slower - batsmen, who dug in to see off the new ball and their best bowlers. No quick singles, and I was pleased when the first wicket fell at 19/1 off 13.4 overs. Boring? Yes. The right call? Absolutely, as our numbers 3 and 4 made 40 and 30 at just better than a run a ball when they had to find other ideas. The 9(46) and 10(65) from our openers was unironically just as important: if we were 10/2 off 4 overs then there's a lot more danger in the chase.
First and definitely least, the battle of the wooden spoon. Canterbury invited their visitors, Bickley, to bat on what was a pitch that was very damp at one end. Having lost a couple of wickets early on, Bickley's opener, Cam Hawkins, carried on regardless like a train, though fortunate himself not to have been derailed on several occasions, before succumbing for 38 off 30 balls. Following a circumspect start, Seb started to impose himself to the extent that he hit Canterbury's overseas, the Aussie domicled/Italian international, Anthony Mosaca, out of the attack with 15 off 5 balls. A few overs later Seb was gone for 35 (36), the first of three LBW victims to Canterbury's leggie, Syan Bulathsinhala, to a ball that got up ankle high. Michael Ridley hung about with little support, ending 35* (55) to get Bickley to 169 all out.
Canterbury opted on that wicket to bat only one way and at one stage were 72-5 off 12 overs. With the score on 118, Bickley took the big wicket of Mosca for 45 (46), swiftly followed by another three wickets to leave Canterbury on 126-9 and still needing another 44 for victory. Game over. Well it certainly looked that way, but not in favour of Bickley, once Bulathsinhala, marshalling his tail ender partner, Cameron Wilshaw, to the brink at 169-9 and scores level. At that point Wilshaw tried to pull a ball only to be caught on the edge of the ring. Match tied with MOM Bulathsinala stranded on 47* (80) to add to his bowling figures of 10-1-27-4. Elliot Hooper for Bickley returned 10-2-27-5.
So honours shared and Bickley managing to avoid bottom place by a single point. That said, as I indicated last week, this has been the tightest KPL probably of all time as reflected by the fact that Bickley will go down having lost the fewest number of matches (9) in the win/loss era. In fact, Holmesdale have joined runaway champions, Bromley, in being promoted to the KPL with just 3 less defeats than Bickley sustained. The Houdini's that are Sandwich, for the third consecutive season, finished third bottom.
The real story of the day, though, came at the top. Going into the matches, Minster were 6 points clear of Blackheath and playing a St Lawrence & HC side with little to play for and without their two big players namely Darren Stevens and their overseas, Jason Sangha (the small matter of 861 runs at an average of 43.05 between them). Blackheath needed to hope that Minster would trip up and that they could beat Tunbridge Wells to seal the title.
Minster won the toss and elected to field which looked the right decision with St Lawrence on 74-6. Even at 124-8 it was questionable whether St Lawrence would muster any sort of meaningful target but thanks to John Grewar with 67* (95) they managed to get to 184-9 off their 50. Meanwhile, Blackheath seemed to be doing their best to throw their chances away - having been inserted, they managed just 136 and that was thanks purely to the efforts of their opener and captain, Charlie Sid-Speller, with 56 (96). Minster, for their part, steadily lost wickets but, bizarrely, given the calibre of batsmen at their disposal and two young spinners facing them, were doing so without any seeming intent. They ended up 148 all out (136 off the bat) from 47.4 overs to lose by 36 runs. So, it was all over to Blackheath and their attempt to stop a Tunbridge Wells side with the likes of Marcus O'Riordan in their line up. 21-0 became 24-3 and then 81-7. A partnership of 23 between Barker and Freeman took them to 104-7 and within 33 runs of winning, But then, bang, bang, bang and 106 all out. Blackheath had won by 30 runs but, more to the point, were Kent Premier League Champions.
What a finish to the season. Some five weeks before, Minster were running away with the title but four defeats and an abandoned match wiped out their big lead. Credit to Blackheath, though, who, following their loss to Minster on 13th July, won seven of their final eight games with the other match being an abandonment. You just couldn't write this season in the KPL.
M O’C was a Charlton fan and I first met him nearly 50 years ago when he played football with my dad at Metrogas which was based at Horn Lane back then
I then went on to play cricket with him for Metrogas and Shooters Hill and went on many a cricket tour to the New Forest back in the 90s early 00’s
he was a positive man who loved his sport and Charlton .
RIP Micky
RIP
Micky was a top bloke and dedicated an enormous amount of his time to running youth cricket.
Played in a dads and lads Sunday side with him at Shoots around 15-20 years ago and we’d always talk about the rivalry back in the 80s between LBG and the Gas.
RIP Micky O