1s win nail-biter at Sevenoaks Vine

Runs from Chris Murtagh and Ben Shoare coupled with a match-winning spell of 4-24 from Steve Hirst gave Reigate Priory a nine run win over Kent Premier League runners-up Sevenoaks Vine in a pre-season friendly on Saturday.
The Priory, sponsored by Brookworth Homes, has not beaten Sevenoaks in this annual pre-season fixture since 2013.
The game started cautiously on a chilly and cloudy day after Reigate had won the toss and opted to bat. Brad Scriven was caught off Richardson in the second over for nought and opener Andy Delmont and Ben Shoare found the going slow despite a short boundary on the Holly Bush Lane side of the ground.
Delmont was caught off opening bowler Karl Pearson for 26 at 34-1 after 11 overs, which brought together Shoare and Chris Murtagh in the best partnership of the day. Shoare continued in a cautious vein taking 37 balls to reach double figures and 73 balls before he hit his first boundary. Murtagh, meanwhile, carried on from last week’s 93 by stroking his first 10 runs in just seven balls in a brisk display of batsmanship.
The 50 partnership between Murtagh and Shoare came in 11 overs, with Murtagh scoring 33 of these runs including six boundaries. And the 100 partnership came eight overs later. Shoare, who had taken 87 balls to score 37 runs (a strike rate of 43) finally found a bowler to his liking (John Gethins), a boundary to his liking (Holly Bush Lane, where else?) and struck 14 runs in four balls with two 4’s and a 6.
Murtagh who had been peppering that same boundary since the start of his innings soon reached his 50 in 47 balls with nine 4’s before going aerial into Holly Bush Lane with three 6’s.
The partnership of 138 runs in 23 overs came to an end at 172-3 when Shoare was caught off Carslaw’s bowling for 64 off 105 balls. Murtagh followed five overs later, uncharacteristically trying to reach a century in the grand manner, bowled by Levy (the ninth bowler Sevenoaks had tried) for 94 off 72 balls at 204-4 off 38.2 overs.
Those spectators and players who remembered Sevenoaks’s easy win with three overs to spare in 2014 when Fabian Cowdrey made use of the same short boundary to stroke 38 not out off 13 balls (with four 4’s and three 6’s) in a score of 220-3 off 37 overs, would put a 45-over par score at around 260 or even 270.
So when Tye was out for 18 off 17 balls at 222-5 two overs later, this sort of target still seemed possible with Raja striking the ball well and with 4.4 overs to go. Then things went wrong for the visitors.
Will Irving and Simon King were both leg before for ducks, McInley was run out for 1, Beaven was stumped for nought and Hirst was run out for 1. Thanks to two 6’s and a 4 from Raja, Reigate did make 242 but there were still 11 balls to go when the innings folded.
Sevenoaks Vine started its reply swiftly.
Andy Delmont, the South Australian professional now in his fifth season with the Priory, had been given the new ball for the first time to bowl seamers from the far end while McInley bowled pace from the pavilion end. McInley had John Bowden leg before for 3 in his first over but runs were flowing easily for former Tunbridge Wells skipper Evert Bekker and Queensland professional Nick Sale.
The 50 came up in the eighth over and while Delmont did bowl Bekker for 42 at 64-2 in the 11th over, Sevenoaks skipper Mike Barber kept the scoreboard ticking over as he and Sale put on 62 together in 13 overs.
The introduction of Beaven from the pavilion end did slow down the scoring somewhat, but it wasn’t until Hirst came on in the 24th over at a score of 125-2 that wickets began to fall.
Bowling his slow seamers, Hirst struck almost immediately when he had Barber well caught by Tye at shortish mid-off with his fourth ball. Two overs later, Mile Richardson struck the ball head high towards Hirst in his follow-through. The bowler parried the ball towards Tye, who took the deflection and a second catch. Sevenoaks’s fast start had now faltered at 134-4 off 28 overs.
Sale had reached a chanceless 50 in 61 balls, including three 4’s, when rain intervened to halt play for 30 minutes at 154-4 off 33 overs. When play resumed, Shoare chipped in with Lorne Burns’s wicket for 13, thanks to a sharp stumping by Raja.
Hirst accounted for Tom Coldman, caught by Murtagh at long on for nought, and Sevenoaks were 160-6 off 36 overs, needing 82 to win in nine overs.
New batsman Harry Levy put on 32 with Sale (by now on 74) but Levy was bowled by Hirst for 16 in his ninth over, leaving Hirst with figures of 4-24 in his nine overs.
Nine runs later Shoare had Pearson leg before for 2 and Carlshaw was run out by a fine throw from Delmont two overs later at 210-9. Sale by now had moved on to 86 not out, having just hit his first 6. While he needed only 14 more for his century, his team still needed 33 runs for the victory with only 17 balls and one wicket left.
The Queenslander got his century, thanks to a couple of 6’s over the short boundary. But in a tense last over bowled by Delmont, Sale could not push Sevenoaks over its desired target. The Sevenoaks overseas player ended on 108 not out from 110 balls with Sevenoaks 233-9 off its 45 overs, 10 runs short of the target.
Aside from Hirst, Shoare took 2-48 in nine overs, Beaven 0-39 in his nine overs and Delmont 1-58, also in nine overs. McInley took 1-37 in five overs and King 0-23 in four overs.
Reigate begins its Surrey Championship season this Saturday in a 50-over game away to Sutton, starting at noon.
This was the fixture towards the end of last season that was abandoned because of a dangerous and unfit pitch, following overnight rain.