Hartley settle old scores against Bromley

Having been drummed out of the Cockspur Cup by Bromley a fortnight ago, Hartley were determined to seek revenge when they came up against the same opponents in the Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League.

And thanks to a superb all-round performance from former Kent professional James Hockley, who took 4-33 then went on to make an unbeaten 109, they were able to overturn their 100 run Cup defeat to complete an emphatic five wicket victory which took them to the top of the table with half the season still to go.

Fine all round effort from Hartley's Hockley

Bromley won the toss and elected to bat but although Grant Sheen, Miguel Barbosa and Omar Barnes all made good starts, none went on to make 50 and help build a large total for Bromley. Hockley was at the top of his form for 4-33 and Andy Tutt took 3-51 to restrict Bromley to 190 which looked below par.

Although Hartley stuttered slightly in the middle, Hockley carried his bat and Sam Billings made a useful 33 to ensure a comfortable win for Hartley after just 33.1 overs.

With other results going in their favour, Tunbridge Wells moved into second place after a comprehensive win over last weeks leaders Gore Court. Gore Court never came out of the starting blocks and were demolished for just 140 with Mark Smith producing impressive figures of 5-27.

Tunbridge Wells romped home in only 20.2 overs with Philip du Plessis making a half century, Alex Willams an unbeaten 49 and Quentin Fereira a breezy 34 from 23 balls.

Beckenham missed an opportunity to close the gap on Hartley to one point as they underperformed with both bat and ball against a youthful and talented St Lawrence side.

After a brisk start, Beckenham got tied down in mid innings by some accurate St Lawrence bowling with Murray Creed taking 4-45 and an impressive unchanged spell of 15 overs from Charlie Hemphrey (3-59).

Chris Isles scored a dogged 52 but no other Beckenham batsmen flourished and their final total of 216 for nine looked a few short. St Lawrence cruised at the start with Murray

Creed (47) and Dan Stickles (41) setting off in positive mode. A mid order collapse followed and at 150 for 5 the match was well balanced.

Paul Dixey and David Smith came to the rescue, both scoring an impressive unbeaten 44 to steer St Lawrence to a well deserved victory by five wickets.

Sandwich Town remain bottom of the table after a spirited but unsuccessful run chase against Sevenoaks Vine.

Half centuries by John Bowden and Alex Rayner well supported by others took Sevenoaks Vine to 254 for nine at the close. David Draper (79) and Leon Johnson (51) gave Sandwich a chance but the lower order could not do quite enough and their final wicket fell of the penultimate ball of the match, 15 runs light of their target.

Blackheath posted 213 for eight against Lordswood which proved far too few as Lordswood cruised to 216 for four with nine overs remaining to place Blackheath into 9th place, one of the two relegation spots.

An exciting second half of the season lies in store with only 22 points separating 2nd from 9th.