Match Report - 1st XI vs. Gore Court (h) - 26th June 2021
Tonbridge fall short in bottom of the table clash
Tonbridge CC 1st XI – 135 All Out
Gore Court CC 1st XI – 153 All Out
Tonbridge arrived to an overcast Poplar Meadow on a high after a good win the week before away to Walmer. There didn’t look like any demons on the surface of the pitch, so TCC promptly lost the toss and were put into the field as Gore Court opted to bat.
Tonbridge’s new opening partnership of Batley and Khurrum Shehzad have made a habit of starting off innings strongly, and they didn’t look like breaking that today. Khurrum (10 Overs, 1-19) kept one end tight and Batley picked up an early wicket, which brought Gore Court’s skipper Alex Campbell to the crease.
Changes to the bowling attack reaped some rewards after Gore Court looked to rebuild. Confusion in the middle lead to a run out, then TCC skipper Ben Peters (7 overs, 2-14) quickly picked up a couple, reducing GC to 44-4. More changes meant the spin attack continued and Mark Burns on his 1st XI debut was thrown the ball. His flight and guile quickly reaped rewards and TCC were hoping to kill the innings quickly and chase a low total.
But with Campbell still at the crease and ably supported by William Sutton (22), GC managed to reach a defendable target on what turned out to be quite a variable pitch, before Batley (9 overs, 3-30) came back to partner Burns (7.3 overs, 3-30) to blow away the tail. Campbell finally removed for a well made 61, taking the total to chase 153.
TCC Started brightly, with C Patel starting positively, scoring freely against the opening pace. But the change bowlers taking the pace off the ball proved a more difficult task. Patel fell for 19, which lead to 3 quick wickets taking TCC to 43-3 and wobbling. Snow (20) and Hall took to the task of rebuilding, but with runs tough to come by both fell in quick succession to Adam Collins. This brought Jessop and Burns together who looked to build a partnership to take TCC home.
Both batted positively, got themselves in and got TCC within sight. But Jessop (23) fell to the returning Roche, which exposed the tail which we hoped would wag. With only 19 needed to win TCC had 3 wickets in hand, but Collins was having none of it. He bowled a triple wicket maiden to end the game, removing Burns (30) and completing his 5 wicket haul, returning figures of 9.5 overs, 5 for 29.
There were some good performances in the field and with the ball for TCC, and a notable debut for Burns with runs and wickets, but the individual performances of Collins and Campbell took the game out of TCC’s reach and earned Gore Court the win, making it tight at the bottom of the KCL Div 4 table. The 1st XI look to change their fortunes next week away at Roebucks who’re currently sat third in the table and looking to bolster their promotion hopes.
