SVCC Men's 3rd XI v Dartford 3rd XI (H) - 18.05.24

The Vine 3s hosted Dartford 3s at Otford.

Skipper Charlie Williams lost the toss and the Vine were asked to bat first on a slightly damp surface.

Harry House and Charlie Williams opened up and after a sound start Williams missed with an expansive drive and was clean bowled. With the wicket doing a bit , batting was hard and wickets fell regularly and runs were hard to come by. Harry House and Pulkit Verma were bowled and Andy Akerman was unlucky to be caught in the slips after the catcher caught a rebound off his own thigh to leave the Vine on 42-4. Hilton Henderson batted well for 25 before getting out stumped whilst trying to accelerate. Ben Harvey batted well but hit fielders in the covers on many occasions before being caught off a miscued pull for 16.

It was left to Freddie Young and Hugo Tudor to rescue what they could with Freddie playing 4 lovely sweep shots before both he and Tudor were out in the last two overs as the Vine subsided to 110 all out.

Any thoughts that this could be a tricky chase were quickly dispelled as Hendersons first over was despatched for 22 by some brutal hitting from one of Dartford’s openers as the sun appeared to have made batting much easier. Freddie Young held a good catch to remove the big hitting opener but despite some good bowling from Mark Poole Freddie Young and Ben Harvey no further inroads were made and Dartford cruised to their target in only 17 overs.