The second match report to follow later
Game 1
Kent v NSW
NSW win but not without a gutsy fight from the Kent lower order
Kent wanted to test out it's batting and bowling departments in the two warm up games, for the NSW test batting was the key and went into the game with 9 front line batsman.
Kent batted first and the openers put on a good start and both openers R.Key and D.Fulton looked in good nick until B.Lee removed Fulton on the last ball of his over traping him plum in-front. Kent's innings went from bad to worse and G.McGrath then removed R.Key getting him caught behind... Kent needed to consolidate some what and E.Smith did just that.. Out for a golden duck caught in the deep by B.Lee. Kent were now in deep trouble three wickets had fallen for no extra runs (27/3). Kent really needed a big score from star batsman B.Lara and wicketkeeper G.Jones, B.Lara who will be moving to NSW in the season brake wantted to show his new employer Bug's just how well he can play. The pair shared in a valuble 75 run stand that produced some fine batting displays from both players, However G.Jones seemed to forget he was in a 4 day game a scored a quick fire 50 of just 65 balls before he was caught behind of NSW spinner S.MacGill.. M.Walker was the new batsman to the middle and but on another very important partership of 47 with B.Lara, the pair were playing well and looked to push the score on a bit for Kent when M.Walker fell for a short pitch ball and hooked B.Lee stright into the hands of spinner S.MacGill in the deep, Kent looked all at sea at just 151/5, when the number 7 bats man and Kent Wicketkeeper P.Nixon was promoted up the order to try to stablize the innings some what, but NSW made the big brake through by taking the wicket of Kent's star batsman B.Lara who had played a very solid innings of 45 from 146 balls; B.Lee again the wicket taker... this time M.Bevan was the catcher. Kent were now in complete disaray at 152/6. P.Nixon and M.Ealham were now left to try to sort the mess out that the earlier batsman had caused, Kent manager was now very happy that he chose 9 batsman to play in this game but now kewn that wahtever score his team managed to post wouldn't be big enough to defend against a very strong NSW side. P.Nixon didn't last long and went for just 10, S.MacGill picking up his 2nd wicket of the innings. M.Ealham was joined in the middle by fellow allrounder M.Felming who was about to have a very immpressive game. Both players played a nice steady innings and keept the score ticking over nicely before both M.Ealham 24 (61) and M.Felming 33 (61) fell in the same G.McGrath over which all but ened the Kent innings, both bowlers.. M.Saggers and B.Trott fell in McGrath's next over nither of them adding to the total.
Kent's innings fell away and a very dissapointing score of 224 all out left Kent manager, wondering what lay ahead.
NSW bowled well and three players stood out
G.McGrath 21 - 7 - 47 - 5
B.Lee 19 - 5 - 57 - 3
S.MacGill 15 - 2 - 52 - 2
NSW 1st innings started in very ominous form with the whole top order all firing. Kent’s decision to play only two bowlers and two all rounders was always going to allow NSW to get a big score while batting. However anything in the region of 350 would have let Kent back into the game, however this was short lived as NSW racked up 455ao including a brilliant 136 (197) by star batsman M.Bevan. NSW innings also included two half centuries from M.Waugh 57 (98) and S.Lee 66 (137) and 49 from Australian captain S.Waugh who will be one of three players heading to Kent from NSW over the season brake.
Kent’s Bowlers were expensive and not the usual performance standard that they are capable of.
M.Ealham - 27 - 4 - 105 - 1
M.Saggers - 35 – 5 – 112 - 3
M.Fleming - 29 - 6 –74 - 0
B.Trott - 30 - 6 – 143 - 6
Kent would start their 2nd innings a mammoth 228 runs behind and it would take a better performance than the first innings to get NSW to even bat again. The innings started badly with R.Key falling for just 8 (3) leaving the score on 22/1. Again NSW got an early wicket and the innings looked to be following a similar pattern to the first. Again NSW didn’t have to wait too long for their next victim with fellow opener D.Fulton falling for 25 (36) yet again the story of Kent’s game was another batsman getting a god start but not going on. B.Lara was joined at the crease by E.Smith who was hoping to improve on his golden duck 1st innings display…well he did but only just falling for just 6, trapped LBW by strike bowler G.McGrath. Kent were reeling at 3/53. Soon to become 4/53 with B.Lara falling for a poor innings of 11 (46). Kent were looking at a innings defeat when a partnership of 74 from G.Jones and M.Walker recovered the situation slightly. But M.Walker 36 (68) fell to a dubious LBW decision from G.McGrath the NSW bowlers sensed a chance to finish the Kent innings off. At 127/5 Kent were still in deep trouble and still 101 runs off making NSW bat again. Kent added just another 22 runs before G.Jones fell for 41 (77) just 9 runs short of making a half century in both innings, 149/6. Kent all rounder M.Ealham made just 9 more runs before being caught behind of spinner S.MacGill, 158/7. Fans could be seen leaving the ground now and that was the biggest mistake of the day. With the wicket of M.Ealham…M.Felming coming in at number 9 was bought to the middle and he turned the game on it’s head with a absolutely scintillating knock of 95* (135) he was well supported by P.Nixon 40 (74), but when he was out it seemed that M.Felming 35* would run out of partners… But for a change the Kent bowlers started to make the NSW bowlers looks silly as B.Trott made 40 (90) and M.Saggers 21 (36) which allowed M.Felming time to run riot at the other end and proceed to 95*. This lower order onslaught ment that Kent total of 349 all out would give them a 120 run lead…Although not likely to be a match winning lead, but it did give the players to show their manager that they could bat and dig in deep when needed.
NSW bowling was ok but nothing sparkling stood out apart from the fact that G.McGrath went at nearly 5 an over (must be a first
)
G.McGrath – 28 – 8 – 100 - 3
B.Lee - 24 - 5 – 83 - 4
S.MacGill - 18 - 3 – 52 – 3
NSW required to score 118 to win the game and started as badly as possible with C.Richards falling for just 2 (9). But it didn’t take long for M.Waugh and M.Bevan to rule out any chance of a Kent win being on the cards with a 60 run partnership before M.Bevan fell for 27 (40). M.Clarke continued where M.Bevan left off and was left 20 not out of 39 balls at the end of the match. However before the match was won M.Waugh fell for 54 (76). Kent bound players M.Clarke and S.Waugh 7 (29) scored the few runs left for victory and wrapped up a conniving 7 wicket victory.
Kent’s bowling
M.Ealham – 8 – 3 – 23 - 1
M.Saggers - 11 - 4 – 45 - 1
M.Fleming - 8 - 2 – 32 - 0
B.Trott - 5 - 0 - 16 - 1
NSW win by 7 wickets
M.Bevan was declared the Man Of The Match for his fantastic 136 in the first innings
Kent’s match report for the game with Hampshire to follow
