Park were thoroughly outclassed by Gravesend who handed out a League cricketing lesson to the division's new boys and sent them home with a 143 run defeat.
Park started with Craig Partridge and Paul Moss bowling superbly but luck was not with the away team as a number of chances went down. Craig eventually bowled Chodha (37 for 1) and Ranthraraj (57 for 2) and suddenly Park were in the wickets. Errington was caught well by Gannon at point (62 for 3) off Mossy. Nigel Dee was pointlessly run out by a good return from Hearnie (71 for 4). Eastwood was trapped LBW by Skip Fowdy (86 for 5) and Atwal was brilliantly caught by Si Ewin off Bill Partridge (113 for 6). When Nolan Wilde was caught by Craigus off the skip the visitors were jubilant with Gravesend at 113 for 7. It was not to last though as Meguel Dee and Russ Wilde put on 124 for the eighth wicket. Christian O'Mahoney eventually had Wilde LBW for 49 (237 for 8), as the home side reached a mammoth 242 for 8, with Nigel Dee unbeaten on 92.
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Moss | 9 | 1 | 32 | 1 |
| Craig Partridge | 12 | 0 | 85 | 2 |
| Darran Fowdy | 6 | 0 | 29 | 2 |
| Bill Partridge | 12 | 2 | 33 | 1 |
| Christian O'Mahoney | 5 | 0 | 30 | 1 |
| David Fletcher | 2 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
Back to the 80's opening partners Dave Hearn and Dave Brupbacher got off to a bad start with Hearnie caught for a duck. This started a Park batting collapse of titanic proportions, as wickets fell with sickening regularity. Christian O'Mahoney bowled for a golden duck, Darran Fowdy bowled for 7, Roger Griffiths bowled for 6, Craig Partridge bowled for 4. The only light in this particular tunel was when Bru and Tim Gannon were at the crease putting on 40 plus against some hostile fast bowling. Gannon was eventually caught for a breezy 23. When Bru was bowled for a determined top score of 28 the game was over and the rest of the Park batting fell away as follows: Si Ewin bowled for 1, Bill Partridge caught for 6, Paul Moss caught for a duck. Dave Fletcher left on 1 not out as Park were humbled at 99 all out.
Paul Moss and Craig Partridge bowled well and on another day might have won the game for us. Gannon defied the bowlers briefly but for keeping his head whilst others lost theirs (apologies to Kipling) the MOm goes to Dave Brupbacher for his resistance at the top of the order.