Having been invited to play in a friendly under 11”s game at kent college in Canterbury,it was decided to take a mixture of 12 experienced and not so experienced players to the Vernon holme oval on Saturday may 19th.In fact, it was the first chance for many of the bapchild players to compete in a  full competitive game.

Bruce Tatton,[keeper] was elected captain with Chris Hogg vice captain and kent college won the toss and elected to bat first on a fairly damp wicket.
Tight bowling early on by Chris Hogg and Oliver Blackbourn kept the kent college sides score down.But they grew in confidence as better batsmen arrived at the crease and most of their runs came from the last two batting pairs,namely P. Richardson who scored 11 runs and R.Jones who cracked 13 runs off the bat.Bapchild though stuck to their guns and fielded very well on a short fast outfield and restricted kent college to 293 for 3 off their 24 overs.

Pick of the bapchild bowlers were young Maisie Blackbourn who bowled 2 overs,both maidens,and also Jamie Fever who bowled a very good line and only went for one run off the bat in his 2 over spell taking a wicket in the process.Oliver Blackbourn dismissed a kent college batsman with his first ball in the game taking middle stump and he ended up with only one run coming off the bat having bowled 3 overs.The other wicket to fall was claimed by Ryan Bradford who went for 6 runs off the bat in his 2 over spell.
Kent college bowled very tight and fielded well all through the bapchild innings and you could see that they had obviously played before.But bapchild were not fased and put in a brave batting performance throughout their innings and there were some good knocks especially in the middle of the innings by Fraser Harris,JamieFever and Reece Tatton who all contributed good runs to the score.

With 4 overs to go the last pair of batsmen, Bruce Tatton and Chris Hogg, went to the crease requiring just over 30 runs to win.Two cracking fours through gully by Bruce in one over set up a tight finish with bapchild needing 12 off the last over.Commentary throughout the game by kent college sports teacher Christopher Sweet added to the tension and it all boiled down to bapchild needing a four off the last ball of the game to win the match.With hearts in mouths and fingers crossed,Richarson raced in to deliver the last ball of the game and Chris Hogg as cool as you like dispatched the perfect cover drive to send the ball racing over the boundary for the four runs required
Jubilant scenes followed with a pitch invasion by all the bapchild players and a thoroughly deserved victory was gained with bapchild ending up on 294 for 8.
Chris Hogg must get a special mention as he finished up top scorer with 24 runs and batted superbly throughout his innings.

Special thanks must go to Archie who arranged and organised the game and also thanks must go to Andrew Carter[headmaster] who opened up his school and looked after us all,parents included,in what was a very enjoyable afternoon out.Well done to all the bapchild team.

You all played your part in what was a very good game of cricket .