HYTHE & DIBDEN CRICKET CLUB

CALMORE SPORTS vs UNDER 17'S

Thursday 28th June

Emphatic win by Under 17's and into Second Place.

The Under 17’s nine wicket demolition of title rivals Calmore throws the league wide open with the prospect of a title deciding game against Bashley on the last fixture of the season. Hythe strolled to the victory due to 5 wickets from Pete Stevens, 3 from Ben Smith and a vicious unbeaten 41 from Tom Porter.

Built up as the Under 17’s toughest fixture so far this season Hythe travelled to Calmore with no expectations. Just before the start of the match Hythe were told they were playing on Astroturf so some players only had their casual footwear on. When the game was finally beginning after being locked out of the changing rooms Russell Moore won the toss and elected to field hoping to put pressure on the formidable Calmore openers.

The first ball of the innings from Pete Stevens ended up as four byes but after that the Hythe performance was outstanding. The very next ball Stevens struck the off stump of Calmore’s opener getting rid of one of the danger men. Then later in the over after another boundary Stevens had Calmore’s other opener caught under a steepler by Page. Richard Last opened with Stevens and his first over was expensive which left Calmore at 20-2 off 2 but after that he conceded barely any runs and allowed Stevens to steal the show at the other end. Duly obliging Stevens ripped out more Calmore wickets with an LBW, another bowled and a good catch by Lee Powell. With the runs tied up at the other end Hythe’s field could attack and after the first 7 overs, the combination of the two seamers meant Calmore had lost 5 wickets – all to Stevens who ended with figures of 4-0-21-5.

Lee Powell came on to replace Last and bowled very tightly aided by some fantastic fielding from all members of the Hythe team and with pressure building this resulted in Greg Woods picking up a run out keeping Calmore’s innings in check. Ben Smith then came on to replace Stevens and had similar good fortunes bowling extremely tightly despite having to protect a short leg side boundary. His superb spell including a maiden and two wickets in two balls gave him figures of 3-1-5-3 with all his wickets being bowled. Despite Calmore’s number four Cook hitting a six in his 31* he ran out of partners as Powell deservedly bowled the last batsman to end the innings on 59.

Hythe’s excellent fielding meant the total was lower to chase and made the task easier for our batsman against some accurate opening bowling. When Moore was dismissed playing a big shot Hythe were 5-1 off four overs but from then on the impressive Tom Porter and experienced Matt Howe never looked back. Once Calmore bowled out left arm seamer Lavelle for figures of 4-2-5-0 Hythe were 15-1 off 8 but the introduction of the change bowlers changed the face of the game. Tom Porter especially got into his stride and thumped their spinner for a six and after nine overs the score was 31-1, half way there.

Runs came at ease from that point on with Porter hitting another even bigger six off the spinner to pull the runs needed down to two off the final two overs. When Howe dispatched the winning runs – a pull for four Hythe still had more than an over to spare and cruised home with Porter finishing 41* and Howe 20*.

Toss Won By : HYTHE

Innings of : CALMORE SPORTS 58 All Out (13.2 Overs)

Hythe Bowling

Innings of : HYTHE 62 FOR 1 ( Overs )