Ayre leads the life of Riley as Blackheath win at Bexley

Blackheath travelled the short distance to Manor Way, Bexley to claim the eighteen points awarded for a victory in the Kent Premier League.

When the visitors won the toss and chose to bat, they found scoring runs difficult with Jamie Batten being particularly miserly. Just two runs came from his first five overs which included the wicket of Tejpal Birdi. Harry Dowling removed Siraj Sajid and after ten overs the Heath found themselves on 22 for 2.

George Wells and Riley Ayre then looked to be building a partnership until the former went for a second run that looked risky and was beaten by a superb throw by Harry Turner. Ayre followed soon after to Jack Sinfield before Charlie Sid-Buller was LBW to Freddie Foster, playing back, without troubling the scorers.

Matthew Golding had to rein himself in from playing his normal expansive style as wickets continued to tumble at the other end, although he might have had to take some of the blame for the run out of Jas Bassan that left them on 91 for 6.

However, he did not let it bother him and went on to score 53 before being ninth out and they were bowled out for 157. Foster finished with 3 for 33, Sinfield 2 for 33, Dowling 2 for 11 and Batten 1 for 23.

When Bexley came out to bat, Kent bowler Arafat Bhuyian produced a beauty to clean up Aiden Griggs for four however, his next over went for twelve, including two Ben Aldred boundaries, and Sid-Buller decided to go with bowlers who took pace of the ball. Aldred’s half century partnership with Shaun Evans had Bexley in good shape at 54 for 1 from 11 overs.

Australian professional Ayre then took centre stage removing Aldred, Evans and captain Matt Stiddard as the momentum swung. Batten fell to Jahid Ahmed and Sinfield to Ayre leaving Ellis Daly looking for someone with whom to form a partnership. Turner and Jack Aldred were both dismissed quickly, the latter to give Ayre his fifth wicket.

At 87 for 8, all hope looked lost for Bexley however, Foster gave them some hope, batting intelligently to score 23 from 40 balls. Sid-Speller brought Bhuyian back to break the partnership and he did the trick removing Foster. Daly was last out, hitting Bassan high to be caught by Ayre. While Ayre was the star performer with 5 for 25, Bhuyian took 2 for 22, Ahmed 2 for 31 and Bassan 1 for 13.

Victory for Blackheath moved them up to fourth while Bexley are down to seventh, just three points clear of the relegation places.