A
Summary of the 2004 Season
2004 was a mixed year for the club with the First
XI reaching the East Kent League Final and narrowly missing relegation
from Division Two of the Forester Kent County League. However, the
Second XI won the Reader's Mid-Kent League Division 2A and two of
the colts teams won their respective Medway Colts League championships.
The First XI hoped to do well in the Forester Kent
County League Division Two after just missing promotion the previous
season by one point. A combination of bad luck, a drop in confidence
and poor batting caused the side to struggle. Of their first ten
league matches they lost four in the last over, the worst being
against Sibton Park who needed 35 runs off the last two overs to
win. They also lost by only two runs against RACS and HSBC Bank
and tied against Hartley Country Club. This left them in a position
of having to win four out of the final five games to avoid relegation.
After a very good seven wicket win against Walmer disaster struck
against bottom placed side Farningham who after being 20-5 recovered
to 136 all out. At 103-3 with 30 overs remaining Rainham looked
to have the match won. Wickets then fell quickly and they were bowled
out for 127. This defeat meant they had to win the last three games
to avoid relegation. A six wicket win against Hythe and a close
two wicket victory against Chislehurst & West Kent set Rainham
up for a thriller against Chestfield. Because Walmer had cancelled
their match due to an unfit pitch it left Rainham in a position
of having to win to obtain the twelve points necessary to avoid
relegation. After dismissing Chestfield for 113 Rainham were 39-5.
They recovered and won by three wickets, avoiding relegation at
the expense of Walmer.
Due to poor
availability on Sundays the First XI struggled in the East Kent
League and finished second from bottom after only two victories
in the season, against Wye and Chestfield . However, in the League
Cup they performed better, particularly against Old Stacians in
the semi final. After the visitors had scored 214-7 in their allotted
40 overs Rainham kept up with the required rate with Matt Goodwin
82 and Tom Waters 51 batting well. This allowed them to get a last
over three wicket victory to face Whitstable in the final.
Rainham weren't
expected to win the final as Whitstable are a Kent Premier League
side but they performed well on the day and gave their opponents
a good game. After Whitstable had scored 302 off their allotted
45 overs Rainham went for the runs and finished with 261-9, a creditable
performance.
Nick Plumridge
dominated individual performances with 426 league runs and 36 league
wickets. His best performances were 103 against Sibton Park and
6-33 against Farningham.
The Second XI
performed consistently well throughout the season and deservedly
won their second ever league championship. Only Bobbing Court defeated
them in the league but it was still a closely fought battle with
Cowdrey, who took the race for the title down to the final league
game when the two sides met at Berengrove Park in what was effectively
the final. Batting first on a soft wicket Rainham struggled to 146
against some accurate bowling. Cowdrey also found it difficult to
score runs and were finally dismissed for 62. Rainham captain Kevin
Waters was presented with the trophy immediately after the match.
David Sherhod
(389 runs), Kevin Waters (387) and Tom Kearney (356) dominated the
league batting while Kevin Taylor took 22 league wickets.
On Sundays the
Second XI competed in the Medway Sunday League and were challenging
for the championship until they were hit by a couple of defeats
towards the end of the season.
The new Saturday Third XI performed reasonably well
in their first league season. With most of their players under 18
years old they finished in fourth position in Division 2C of the
Mid Kent League having won five and lost five of their league matches.
James Reeves scored 162 runs while Callum Mitchell took 17 wickets
and Chris Newman 16 wickets.
With a recently
refurbished clubhouse, new all weather practice nets established
and a thriving Colts section the club is doing well.
David Wood 2004
