Kent Stylee Micropub

Yorkshire Vikings 256-9
beat Kent Spitfires 245 all,out
by 11 runs

Thursday 18 August 2016

Royal London One-Day Cup, Quarter Final

Played at Canterbury

Twitter @ball_sup

Gillespie Gunslinger Gauge - drops to an incredible just TWO. Ballance & Willey.

The Overseas has gone, the new Overseas can’t play in this one. The England Lads are back for Big Boys Cricket.

A big nod to The Thomas Tallis Alehouse on Northgate in Canterbury. The vagaries of 2pm starts & last trains back to London meant that I couldn’t do it justice. One of those Kent Stylee micropubs. No discernible bar. Everything chalked up on a board. Nice young man wandering about. Takes your order. Gets the comestibles. Brings it. Takes your money.

To be honest, I was too busy trying to drink it to take much notice of my surroundings. I was also dealing with a Deaf Dog. But, a very welcoming place. Recommended. Shortish cask list. Maybe only 2 on. And maybe a dozen craft kegs. Beavertown, The Kernel, Thornbridge, that sort of thing.

I went LocKeg. Old Dairy, Gold Top (see what they’ve done there) on keg at 4,3%.

The beer set up in the Canterbury Members Bar is OK. Shepherd Neame are the pouring partners. A neat selection of their keg stout & lager. And two handpulls. I went Shepherd Neame, Master Brew on cask at a drinkable 3.7%. I don’t think they make the best of the physical set up in that bar. It can often be difficult/impossible to see play as the sightscreens have to be in front of the large windows. But, the seating arrangements are palatial but odd. All you’ve got is large, low, sink into ‘em sofas. I mean Man Eating Sofas. From which you can barely reach the coffee tables to whack your drinks on. Comfortable mind….

It felt like a Get Out Of Jail day. A great platform 117 for one going into the 23rd over. Lyth had smote some boundaries during the two out PowerPlay. But, we got bogged down. Their spinners dried us up a bit. Only a bit of bosh from Rash at the end got us past 250. It felt like we were short of where we might have been.

Then. At 66-4 in the 17th we looked well on top. Rafiq went for 8 an over. And, they clawed back. Credit to Lees. (And I suspect The Brains Trust). As he went back to frontline seamers to gain control & try to take wickets. Their ninth went down at 241. Having added 29. To be honest, if Willey hadn’t nailed Tredwell, Kent might have got it over the line. We were patient. No real panic, even when chips were down. It’s in the papers. Got it done.

352/758