Eridge narrowly lost out in a thrilling encounter against Gravesend in the first of our two matches this weekend.

With a number or regulars absent, a big thank-you goes out to Steve Powney and Mark Parminter who helped recruit two players right on 2pm when it looked as if, having lost the toss, we would only have nine batsmen at our disposal.

Alan Ellis and Mark Turner got things started, and put on 22 for the first wicket before Turner was run out. Debutant Tom Erxleben scored his first Eridge run but was removed soon after, and Ed Harris, having hit a huge six was then dismissed a ball later with a superb reply from the bowler.

This brought Harry Powney to the crease and he made his intentions known with a well-struck four early on in his innings.

At times of crisis, one man is developing the habit of rescuing the Eridge middle order – Luke Forbes. Once again he came to the fore with a splendid knock, rattling up seven fours in an unbeaten innings of 31 as those batting at the other end came and departed in fairly swift succession.

So we ended up with a total of 113 – not as high as you would like, but not bad when you take into account that we had three debutants aged under 15 and only three players in the side who had ever scored a 50 in their Eridge careers.

Defending a small total, Mark Turner and Richard Vander opened the bowling and were unlucky not to make an early breakthrough as the Gravesend batsmen set about reaching their target Twenty20 style, blasting the ball to all corners of the ground. This approach saw a misjudged drive off Vander dropped by Beefy Fowling at mid-on after he had made good ground to get almost under the ball, and an over later the left-handed opener crashed the ball to mid-off, where the unfortunate Eridge captain got two hands to the firmly-hit drive, only to see it squirm from his grasp, while a despairing dive on its head-high descent could not prevent the ball from hitting the ground.

Turner eventually removed both openers, before Ed Harris replaced Vander to offer some variety as it became clear we needed to try something else if we were to win the game. The runs would easily come given the length of time at the Gravesend batsmen’s disposal, so we needed to take the eight remaining wickets as quickly as possible.

After Turner’s tidy spell of 8-1-22-1, Harry Powney tried his luck for four overs, but it looked like spin from both ends was the answer, so Luke Forbes was handed the responsibility of taking wickets, but without the luxury of having runs to play with.

The spin twins of Harris and Forbes worked their magic, removing five Gravesend batsmen between them, with the highlight being big-hitting Kanda returning to the pavilion thanks to firmly-struck caught and bowled chance that Forbes took at ankle height.

Eventually Gravesend reached their target, but with less than half-a-dozen overs left and seven wickets down.

It was a frustrating game to lose, but an exciting one none-the-less which gave Eridge’s youngsters another chance to gain valuable experience and show their undoubted potential.

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