Sevenoaks Vine: 304-8

Hartley Country Club: 309-7

Vine lost by 3 wickets

CATCHES win matches and don't Sevenoaks Vine know it. By their captain's own admission, Saturday's game saw some of the worst fielding ever witnessed on the Vine as the hosts' good run of form came to a halt.

On a windy, but sunny day, the Vine hosted Hartley Country Club, who, before the game, were one point behind their hosts in the Kent League Premier Division, so a close game was on the cards.

With skipper Alex Rayner electing to bat, the Vine were keen to post a big total; anything under 280 would not be enough.

The Vine raced to 40 off the first six overs for the loss of two wickets.

Bowden (14) and Cowdrey (12) fell, but this only brought Michael Barber and Luke Blackaby to the crease and they moved the Vine score along at a steady rate by not taking too many risks.

Hartley used all their resources to try to break the partnership, but the two youngsters kept picking up singles well and put the bad balls away to the boundary.

Barber reached his 50 first and Blackaby followed with a delightful six over mid-on off the Hartley skipper, David Thompson.

With the Vine in a great place to accelerate, Barber and Blackaby started the assault on the Hartley bowlers. Blackaby, who was finding the boundaries with ease, moved his score on to 87, within sight of a ton, when he hit one down the throat of mid-off. Barber took over as the chief aggressor, also hitting the ball to the boundary as Ollie Howick came and went for two following an amazing one-handed catch on the boundary by James Thompson.

Enter Anthony Shales, who hit 31 off 13 balls, but his entertaining combination of conventional off-drives and stunning reverse sweeps was halted when he was caught on the boundary off Charles Hemprey.

The Vine continued to score runs, but in the chase lost Barber for a fantastic 110, Rayner (14) and Burns (14) leaving the Vine on a competitive total of 304-8 off 50 overs, on a very flat wicket.

The Vine attack started well with Tim Shaw trapping overseas player Malik lbw for 0, but Scott Mckechnie began aggressively, pouncing on anything slightly wide or full, and was severe on Shaw and James Day.

Samuel Billings joined Mckechnie and proceeded to take quick singles while continuing to hit fours and sixes - one six from Mckechnie smashing through a window in the pavilion.

Billings was running well between the wickets before a nasty injury to John Gethins dislocated one of his fingers and he was rushed to hospital.

This brought on 12th man Peter Day, who last played a Kent League back in the 80s. The Vine changed things up a bit, and Blackaby and Bowden stemmed the flow of runs. Bowden struck first and Mckechnie was caught lbw on the crease.

Blackaby was next, taking the wicket of ex-Kent cricketer Charles Hemprey, caught behind by Shales.

Billings continued to dominate, and with two dropped catches, he and James Thompson moved the score closer to the Vine's total.

With 150 still needed off 19 overs, the Vine felt they were still in control, but a combination of clever batting, poor bowling and some of the worst fielding ever seen on the Vine got Hartley closer and closer to 304.

The Vine lost their nerve, and the poor fielding continued as Hartley overhauled the total with an over to go and took the 18 points.

True, Sam Billings played a tremendous knock of 143 for Hartley, but the Vine have some questions to answer if they intend to move up the league for the rest of the season.

On Saturday they are away to Bexley.