Kent Cricket

[thanetbee]

well I know there are not many of us from Kent but time to start a Kent CC thread.
Fabulous win at Brighton tonight with 6 overs to spare.
Notably Kent are the only t20 county not to have an overseas players and instead have local Kent lads including Sam Billings.
Looking forward to the game v Somerset next Friday at Canterbury.

 

[Paul USA]

There is no such thing as Kent cricket

Paul USA
Middlesex CC.

 

[SC]

I would suggest tonight is not a good night to be bragging about being a Middlesex supporter and running down Kent

SC
Kent CCC (TOP of T20 South table)

 

[SC]

There is no such thing as Kent cricket

Paul USA
Middlesex CC.

How sh*t must you be
How sh*t must you beeeeeee
You lost to Surrey
How sh*t must you be

 

[Les Beeavinu]

Both Middlesex and Surrey are long time huge under achievers given their resources. Their supporters don't seem too embarrassed to be outperformed by the likes of Yorks, Durham, Warwicks, Notts, Lancs each year though so I guess all must be well in those counties.

Back onto topic though, Kent are going well in T20 but it does appear to be a constant struggle. Denly and Coles have been disappointing. The Rob Key situation is also very odd. I can't ever see how they will ever get the money to do anything other than sit in the bottom half of Div 2 which is a shame given their history.

 

[SC]

Had a few years when Cricket took a back seat and I just observed the results without taking much notice of what was going on in the background but why is it that Kent are skint unlike virtually every other County. Or should that be More skint than every other county. Having said that, I'm happy that they're bleeding the youngsters and there are some good ones there.

 

[Les Beeavinu]

Had a few years when Cricket took a back seat and I just observed the results without taking much notice of what was going on in the background but why is it that Kent are skint unlike virtually every other County. Or should that be More skint than every other county. Having said that, I'm happy that they're bleeding the youngsters and there are some good ones there.

I don't really understand the economics of cricket enough but they do on the face of it to be very skewed towards counties that can host tests and those in Div 1.

 

[thanetbee]

Not sure what the negativity is about.
Kent reached the semis of the one day cup last year.
Kent are winning the south t20 having won at Surrey, Hampshire and the oval.
Sam billings and tredders are England internationals.
For a small county I think things are going well.

 

[SC]

Bob Woolmer, Asif Iqbal, Alan Knott, Derek Underwood, Bernard Julien, John Shepherd, Alan Ealham etc etc

Happy Memories and no wonder we were winning trophies in the 1970s. Back then we weren't a small county,

Apart from the T20 a few years back we've won bugger all in the last 20 years and that's hard to take considering how good we were when I first started following Kent
Even then, we were competitive for many years after. It's just recent years when we've struggled apart from the odd decent cup run but that all ties in with the lack of £££ I guess and the inability to bring in quality established players. But, as I keep saying, it's good to see these kids coming through and if we can keep the likes of Northeast, Bell-Drummond, Billings etc, then maybe we might see some more success. Unfortunately, it seems more likely in the ltd over format as our Championship form is still really pretty poor.

 

[thanetbee]

Bob Woolmer, Asif Iqbal, Alan Knott, Derek Underwood, Bernard Julien, John Shepherd, Alan Ealham etc etc

Happy Memories and no wonder we were winning trophies in the 1970s. Back then we weren't a small county,

.

Money speaks I guess. At best next week there will be 5000 at Canterbury whereas Surrey pack in 20000 plus. Still, when you haven't got money you have to find other ways!

 

[JVT4000]

I imagine Kent's main income these days recently from selling off land for housing development as they have done at both Canterbury and Beckenham. Beckenham seems to have reaped the rewards of this as the ground has been improved but Canterbury looks a little tired these days and has lost a lot of character with the flats going up around it.

The new Kent indoor cricket school at Beckenham looks as good as the Nursery one at Lord's and I imagine they're aiming to attract a bigger crowd and young players from South East London – Daniel Bell-Drummond is testament to this. They're much more visible regarding coaching and scouting in South East London than Surrey are in an area that's not really either one place or the other.

Crowd wise, the problem for Beckenham is they're competing with the Oval, and Surrey can afford to have a much lower gate price with such big attendances. Much cheaper for an adult and a bunch of kids at the Oval than at Beckenham or Canterbury. They've also got the new training football pitches at Beckenham which Palace use for a lot of youth and kids training so I guess that will start getting a fairly decent year round revenue.

My team is Middx so I feel a bit like a fish out of water down in SE London.

 

[whyteleafebee76]

I imagine Kent's main income these days recently from selling off land for housing development as they have done at both Canterbury and Beckenham. Beckenham seems to have reaped the rewards of this as the ground has been improved but Canterbury looks a little tired these days and has lost a lot of character with the flats going up around it.

The new Kent indoor cricket school at Beckenham looks as good as the Nursery one at Lord's and I imagine they're aiming to attract a bigger crowd and young players from South East London – Daniel Bell-Drummond is testament to this. They're much more visible regarding coaching and scouting in South East London than Surrey are in an area that's not really either one place or the other.

Crowd wise, the problem for Beckenham is they're competing with the Oval, and Surrey can afford to have a much lower gate price with such big attendances. Much cheaper for an adult and a bunch of kids at the Oval than at Beckenham or Canterbury. They've also got the new training football pitches at Beckenham which Palace use for a lot of youth and kids training so I guess that will start getting a fairly decent year round revenue.

My team is Middx so I feel a bit like a fish out of water down in SE London.

I certainly agree regarding Beckenham, that's turned into a decent looking ground with good facilities now.

 

[A_BEE_SINCE_63]

I used to be one of a largish band of Bees Supporters who frequented the area in front of the Tavern at Lords throughout the 1970's. The late Ron Jacobs being among us. I remember that we used to take the mickey out of an elderly sargent-major type steward whom we nicknamed Blakey.

Great time watching Middlesex in those days with a team that usually consisted of Mike Brearley, Mike Smith, Clive Radley, Norman Featherstone, Graham Barlow, Larry Gomes, John Murray, John Embury, Phil Edmonds, Mike Selvey, Wayne Daniel plus youngster Mike Gatting, and Ian Gould.

Whilst I have not been to Lords in ages, it strikes me that, since winning one of the first T20 competition a few years ago, Middlesex appear to no longer give two hoots about 1-day cricket.

Now living down in Devon, I enjoy a few days out at Taunton each summer watching Somerset. For the benefit of our Kent supporter, I had the pleasure of watching the T20 between Somerset and Kent at the end of May. Chris Gayle hit a big ton for Somerset batting second but still finished up on the losing side by 3 runs. An earlier ton from Kent's Sam Northeast just put the run target out of Gayle's reach.

 

[SC]

Good win today albeit against the hapless Leicestershire but at least it should mean that we don't finish bottom of the heap. Interestingly and maybe worryingly is the fact that in 9 games, we only have 13 batting points despite having these promising young batsmen. Just checked and that's the equal worst in all County Cricket with amazingly Durham who are 2nd in Div 1. They're obviously a 2nd innings get out of trouble team

 

[thanetbee]

Good win today albeit against the hapless Leicestershire but at least it should mean that we don't finish bottom of the heap. Interestingly and maybe worryingly is the fact that in 9 games, we only have 13 batting points despite having these promising young batsmen. Just checked and that's the equal worst in all County Cricket with amazingly Durham who are 2nd in Div 1. They're obviously a 2nd innings get out of trouble team

I saw the game against the Aussies. The batters would get in and then get bored and give away their wicket. You saw the same with Sam billings played in the one dryers for England. The patience is not there. Saying that they are a fine twenty over team - looking forward to Friday in the sun at the lovely St Lawrence ground.

 

[SC]

Really good win tonight. Good with the bat and ball* and cemented our place at the top of the South group. Although not 100% certain, looks pretty much like we're in last 8 with home field advantage.
Well played the lads

* apart from Coles nightmare last over - 34 bloody runs !!!!

 

[thanetbee]

Really good win tonight. Good with the bat and ball* and cemented our place at the top of the South group. Although not 100% certain, looks pretty much like we're in last 8 with home field advantage.
Well played the lads

* apart from Coles nightmare last over - 34 bloody runs !!!!

indeed it was a good performance. Very one sided and probably poor on the telly but at this stage of the competition wins are what matters. We were much better than somerset. Tredders bowing was a joy. I had to queue for 15 minutes to get in and then we stood for the entire game as all seats were full - not complaining - just nice to see a really healthy crowd at SLG. Hopefully a home quarter final beckons.

 

[SC]

Another impressive win. Clawed Gloucester back towards the end of their innings and then fine batting from Blake again at number 7 sees us cross the line.

Quarter finals and home advantage now guaranteed :bound:

 

[thanetbee]

Another impressive win. Clawed Gloucester back towards the end of their innings and then fine batting from Blake again at number 7 sees us cross the line.

Quarter finals and home advantage now guaranteed :bound:

yes, good news, cracking hit from Blakey! Third time he has won the run chase.

 

[SC]

After an opening game wash-out, nice to see the boys on the box today at Glamorgan. Will be nice to see if they can take their T20 form into the longer version of the white ball game. Timed this post badly as was just about to say how enjoyable it is to see Billings and Northeast laying a good foundation with a 100 partnership only for Sam B to get himself out stumped. Doh

 

[Les Beeavinu]

Look favourites at the moment. Brilliant catch by Billings just now.

 

[SC]

Absolute garbage bowling. No way should we have lost that. 101 off 7 overs after we had them 6 down and needing 12+ an over

 

[Les Beeavinu]

Atrocious 'death' bowling.

 

[stedders]

Looks like a great game at Trent Bridge yesterday in the one day thingy.

Notts 335 (James Taylor 109. Matt Coles hat trick)
Kent 340-5 (Sam Billings 118 n/o)

 

[SC]

Even more impressive as their heads must have been down after Saturdays disappontment. Funnily the death bowling which for the most part has been atrocious has been excellent in the last 2 games. In the T20 they were so close to grabbing victory from the jaws of defeat. Who knows what would have happened if the Thomas run out had been given out. And then last night, to get the last 6 widkets for 4 runs in something like 10 balls was simply amazing. Still would have been outsiders but could have been so much worse. And then to chase down the total and win quite easily in the end..well, that was impressive. All to play for at Edgbaston on Wednesday in a must win game. Would 2 quarter finals in the one day cups be regarded as a reasonably successful season right now ?