It was a lovely afternoon at Tilmanstone, but after a light drizzle in the morning and overcast conditions, Tilmanstone won the toss and elected to field.
Eastry’s attempt to set a decent score in their 40 overs got off to a solid start with Aaron Friend and Michael Eastman building a 59 run opening partnership. With boundaries looking hard to reach and a pitch with plenty for the bowlers, Eastry knew it could be a fairly low scoring match, and so after a good start, the incoming batsmen looked to push on. However it would not be an Eastry innings without a cluster of wickets, and so after seeing the opening batsmen start well, the Tilmanstone bowlers tightened up, particularly Finch and Dawkins, Eastry soon found themselves 90 for 4 with less than half the overs left. At which point Stephen Bettles returning to the team strode to the crease. With A Friend still ticking along at one end, S Bettles provided strong resistance at the other, and the pair were able accumulate another big partnership of 68 with some quick running and occasional big blows. Despite getting into a good position with a few overs left Eastry were unable to execute the big finish to the innings, due to some good death bowling from Cork, Eastry eventually finished on 161 with A Friend ending on a well-earned 94 NO.
At tea Eastry were in good spirits knowing runs would be hard to come by and they had a very youthful team in the field. Opening the bowling with Roger Hill and Paul McLean, Eastry got off to the perfect start, restricting the Tilmanstone openers to just 29 runs off the first 16 overs, with Hill and McLean bowling 4 maidens each. A tight start from Eastry meant Tilmanstone had to up the tempo and it was Dan Dawkins who stepped up hitting a quick 62 but while he could hold one end, he was unable to find a partner. And it was only so long that Dawkins could watch wickets fall around him thanks to some great catching from Eastry, started off by Ed Timpson and continued by Ned Gleave, that he soon fell to the same fate. Eventually S Bettles came on to bowl three balls to take the last wicket and finish off great bowling and fielding performance all round.

GF