Sussex 171/5 v Kent 167/7

Sunday 29th May 2022, Start 14.30
Vitality Blast (Twenty20) South Division

Sussex won by 4 runs

County Ground, Hove

Admission: £30.00

Programme & Scorecard: Free

I used to be a member at Sussex County Cricket Club throughout the 90's and early 2000's, but I rather bucked the trend and was turned off going to watch county cricket when floodlit, Twenty20 cricket took hold. Not that I do not enjoy that format, but it meant that many more midweek fixtures took place which were difficult for me to get to, and mostly taking away the Sunday afternoons I used to enjoy spending at the County Ground. And as my football groundhopping became ever more prolific and my priority, I have tended to want to use the month of June to save some money and enjoy staying at home and doing other things. But my girlfriend has really wanted to go to watch more cricket, and this fixture was about the only one in Sussex's home Vitality Blast fixtures that was convenient for us. And it is a fixture that will always mean quite a lot to me, with Kent being the county of my birth, where I was educated  and spent a substantial chunk of my working life in, whilst Sussex is where I have spent the vast majority of my life living in. 

I believe that today would be my first visit to the County Ground since 2009, and it was interesting to note that there have been some major changes to the place, although pleasingly much remained the same as well. The first thing to notice was that the Sussex Cricketer pub, located outside of the main gates on the entrance road, was demolished in 2020, and the construction of yet another new block of flats is currently being constructed in its place. The previous entrance gates and turnstiles built into a brick wall has been removed, and after having our pre-purchased tickets scanned, there are plenty of freebie giveaways for spectators, including scorecards, a very basic fold out programme, a booklet celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Vitality Blast competition, and some colourful hats. A row of retail outlets, including a cafe, club offices and club shop are located along the rear of what has been the most significant upgrade to the ground in the all-seater stand located in the south west corner of the ground, opened in 2011. It certainly is a big upgrade on the much smaller uncovered bank of seating which used to occupy this part of the ground, offering decent elevated and unobstructed views, and with a roof which only covers the back couple of rows. The Arthur Gilligan Stand has also been replaced with a more modern structure, not dissimilar in size and it is pleasing to note it still offers excellent elevated views from behind the bowler. Delightfully, the pavilion buildings remains virtually unchanged, on the outside at least, and is a pleasing reminder of past times of cricket. The much newer square block, opened in 2003, lies just to the north pf the pavilion buildings, including the player's changing rooms as well as an indoor school. The north end of the ground has several temporary uncovered stands, although outside of the Vitality Blast competition, wooden benches and deck chairs are available to sit on the grass banking. And on the remaining, east side of the ground, the old scoreboard now has a big electronic screen placed in front of it, with the permanent hospitality brick units still in place, but with more modern facilities now installed either side.

Both Sussex and Kent had successful Vitality Blast campaigns last year, both reaching Finals Day, with Kent beating Sussex in the semi-final before beating Somerset in the final in the afternoon. So it is quite surprising that both counties came into this match with a record of played two, lost two, Sussex losing at home to Glamorgan by 7 wickets before losing away at Gloucestershire by 41 runs. In a repeat of last year's final, Somerset gained some revenge on Kent with a 8 wicket victory at Canterbury, where Kent also lost by 4 wickets against Essex.

On a mostly cloudy but occasionally sunny afternoon, Kent won the toss and invited Sussex to bat first. The Sharks started slowly if unspectacularly, only scoring 31 runs from the opening powerplay, and at the halfway point, had only progressed to 66 runs, for the loss of two wickets, and a lack of boundaries and steady loss of wickets really hampering their progress. Veteran opener Luke Wright scored 43, but was dismissed in the 13th over, leaving Sussex at 90 for 4. But in the end, it was mostly down to Tom Alsop, on loan for the season from Hampshire and was only a last minute replacement for this game, showed plenty of good intent and injected some momentum into Sussex's final overs, picking up 63 runs from their last four overs, with Alsop top scoring on 65, to ensure that Kent were set a decent and defendable target of 171 runs, achieved with the loss of five wickets.

Kent got off to a poor start, losing both openers, including England player Zac Crawley, in the first two overs  And whilst they then steadied the ship, Sam Billings showing promise, hitting three fours from the five deliveries following Crawley's dismissal, they never seemed to get going sufficiently and fell further and further behind the required run rate. After Joe Denly was dismissed in the 11th over, the players went off the field as rain fell, and when they came back out, they never looked likely to secure the win, although some good hitting in the closing overs ensured that the final margin was much narrower than had looked likely a few overs previously.

This was an enjoyable afternoon out, but I fear that County Twenty20 may now be on the decline now. Partly due to the ECB seeming to do everything possible to make any form of county cricket as unappealing and inconvenient as possible in favour of the Frankenstein Hundred tournament, shunting the Twenty20 away from the summer holiday season, and also the counties are not helping themselves with overpricing their tickets. £30 was far too much for a game, and will almost certainly mean that today’s game was a one-off for me rather than a more regular event, and that price became £35 if tickets were bought on the day of the game. A half empty Hove would have been unthinkable pre Covid, but a combination of factors mean I can only see the situation worsening in the years to come.

Sungate 0 v 3 Canning Town

Saturday 28th September 2922, Kick-off 14.00
Essex Olympian League Premier Division

Ilford Wanderers RFC Sports Ground, Barkingside

Admission: None

Programme: None

Attendance: 75 (rough headcount)

For the last Saturday of the league season, I chose the only option available in the south-east (at a reasonable standard and not being just a playing field, at least) in east London.No shows are always a big risk at this very late stage in the season ,particularly when the game has nothing really riding on it, but there seemed to be sufficient reason to believe it would go ahead, and so I joined the predictably large number of groundhoppers descending on this fixture, to visit a ground that not many would have previously visited.

The closest underground station to Ilford Wanderers RFC Sports Ground is Hainault, where I went back to after the game, taking less than ten minutes, but beforehand I alighted a stop before, at Fairlop, to take a brief diversion into the pleasant but busy Fairlop Waters en route. The ground is located at the end of a busy straight lane from the passing road, past some garages, 5-a-side football cages and some cricket fields. Just inside the entrance to the rugby club, a paved path leads past the rugby pitch, which is floodlit but has no other furniture, to the old fashioned white pavilion building containing the clubhouse bar, a tea bar hatch, a rather dated function room, and changing rooms. There is a grassy, fenced in area to the front with several wooden picnic tables available, looking out towards the rugby pitch to the right of the football pitch, which has smart white plastic pitchside railing around all four sides, permanent see-through dugouts marked with Sungate's logo, but there is no other furniture nor hard standing present. The pitch looked good and was in excellent condition, and some trees around the ground add a rural and colourful backdrop to the venue. One of those grounds that is really pleasant in the spring and autumn but would probably be rather bleak in the depths of winter. Unsurprisingly, no programmes were produced for this fixture.

There was not too much riding on this game, although slightly more so for the home side. Sungate were in seventh place in the table, following 13 wins and four draws from their 27 league games, but a win today would see them rise to fifth place. After I watched Canning Town’s survival hopes extinguished last Saturday when they eventually lost at Catholic United after taking a two goal lead early in the second half, they are certain of a second bottom place finish, following five wins and five draws from their 27 league games. The reverse fixture of today’s game only took place on Tuesday, ending in a 1-1 draw, Canning Town equalising with virtually the last kick of the game from the penalty spot. The two clubs also met in the Senior League Cup Final earlier in the month, with Canning Town winning 3-2. Sungate have also earned silverware this season, lifting the Essex Saturday Premier Cup in April.

On a partly sunny but most cloudy and slightly chilly afternoon, the visitors started well, and saw a free kick parried by the keeper on ten minutes, but Sungate gradually grew into the game and created some decent chances to open the scoring. On 14 minutes, a shot on the run from a fairly tight angle brushed the keeper's fingertips and then the crossbar, on 34 minutes, a shot from outside the area was tipped wide, while on 38 minutes a lovely dinked ball forward sent their striker through on goal but after taking the ball around the keeper into a tight angle for a shot on goal, he crossed to a team mate in a better position, whose goalbound shot was blocked by a defender's legs. And the last action of the half saw a free kick into the box headed over the bar.

The second half was a different matter, with Canning Town starting on the front foot and doing most of the attacking. On 47 minutes, following a corner, an initial shot was blocked before a follow up shot was held by the keeper. After a couple more half chances, but with the game having more and more of an end of season goalless draw inevitability about it, the visitors broke the deadlock on 81 minutes when Sungate lost possession in midfield, allowing the Canning Town player to go on a slalom run towards goal before firing past the keeper. They pretty much sealed the three points two minutes from time when a lovely touch by a Canning Town player beat a defender before sprinting down the right wing towards and then along the byline, before passing the ball across the six yard box for a tap in at the far post. And some gloss was added to the final result for the visitors when they scored a third in the final minute when their striker closed down a defender and gained possession of the ball before running through and striking it past the keeper. 

And so Sungate missed out on the chance of achieving a top five finish following a very disappointing display which had a real "on the beach" feel to it and so ended their season in seventh spot, whereas for Canning Town, at least they managed to finish their disappointing league season on a high.

Bromley 1 v 0 Wrexham

Sunday 22nd May 2022, Kick-off 16.15
FA Trophy Final
Wembley Stadium, London
Admission: £25.00 (including earlier FA Vase Final)
Programme: £5.00
Attendance: 46,111

Following the FA Vase Final, there would then be roughly two hours before the kick off for this game. Quite a long time to kill, not being allowed to leave the stadium, and with no food or drink being officially allowed into the stadium either, the only way for spectators to entertain themselves was to buy food and drink from the unsurprisingly extortionate kiosks. Not that I did, out of principle...

After Wrexham's ambitions were completely transformed following the takeover of the club by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, they just missed out on automatic promotion this season, finishing in second place, following 26 wins and ten draws from their 44 league games, and they will be at home in the play-off semi-final next Saturday. Bromley were looking a decent bet to reach the play-offs themselves, but eventually fell away towards the end of the season, finishing in tenth place, following 18 wins and 13 draws from their 44 league games. When the two clubs met in the National League this season, Wrexham won 2-0 at home in November, with the reverse fixture in March ending in a goalless draw. To reach today's final, Wrexham have beaten Gloucester City 5-0 at home, Folkestone Invicta 5-1 at home, Boreham Wood 3-0 at home, Notts County 1-2 away and Stockport County 2-0 at home, while Bromley won 0-1 at Dover Athletic, Aldershot Town 0-2 away, Tonbridge Angels away on penalties, Solihull Moors 3-1 at home and York City 3-1 at home.

In what was quite an even and open game, for a Wembley final, Bromley had the first real chance on 9 minutes, when Harry Foster chipped the ball into the box, but Michael Cheek's header was quite comfortably held by the keeper. On 13 minutes, Wrexham.s Paul Mullin beat the offside trap in running onto a ball over the top down the right wing, he crossed low for Jordan Davies to run onto at the edge of the box, but his low shot was gathered quite comfortably by the keeper. Both sides had other half chances during the first half, but the scoreline remained blank at half time.

This continued into the second half, until Bromley finally broke the deadlock on 63 minutes, when half time substitute Joe Partington pinged a superb throughball from his own half for Corey Whitley to run onto clear of the defence, and he showed good composure, awareness and selflessness in passing to Michael Cheek clear and in a more central position, he struck the ball into virtually an unguarded net. Wrexham pushed hard for an equaliser, having two great chances in added on time. In the 93rd minute, a long thrown in into the box was headed on, and Hyde's close range header was superbly tipped over the bar by Balcombe. And in the 95th minute, the Welshman thought they had equalised, no-one more so than Reynolds and McElhenney, when the ball was whipped in from close to the corner flag for Hyde to stoop to head goalwards, Balcombe parried the ball, but Hyde headed it into the net. But the goal was ruled out for offside, and Bromley saw out the remaining moment to lift the trophy for the first time in their history, having been runners up in 2018. Wrexham still have the more important goal and trophy to aim for, in the play-offs for promotion into the EFL.