On the hottest day of the year so far Kent Under 11 Boys took on the Brown Hats of Surrey. Once again there was only one decision to make when winning the toss and again unfortunately we lost and were put into the field!

After the previous game there had been discussion and instruction regarding  the importance of getting back to doing the basic well and making sure that all bowlers put in some quality practice between games as well as the importance of sharpening up the fielding, and despite the blistering heat improvements were apparent straight away in both disciplines.

Early wickets fell as Taylor [2] and Fargie [1] dismissed early Surrey batsmen, and this meant that at the first drinks break at 14 overs, Surrey were 35-3 – so first set to Kent. This was maintained with a good spell from Richard Heywood with 2-9 off 5 overs and Bill Cain 1-8 off 4 overs, and with Kent maintaining their disciplines Surrey went into the next drinks break at 28 overs at 74-5 —-second set to Kent! However in the remaining 12 overs Surrey managed to double their score and ended on 144 –third set to Surrey.

In the heat and the inexperience of playing these much longer games Kent lost their way and Surrey took advantage of this. Having estimated that 120 would be a par score for what was a dry and dusty track that took spin this target was now likely be a difficult task.

After losing openers Baxter and Bedford early, retrenchment was required as other wickets quickly followed but Taylor played a very gutsy innings to steady the ship and was assisted by Hudd and Robinson at the end to see out the draw with a total of 97 on the board. The Kent innings was not helped with 3 run out dismissals.

As always there is a steep learning curve at this time of the year as the Boys get used to playing much longer games of cricket but the most important thing is that they understand, learn and work on their game to improve.

Team:

• Nathan Baxter
• Lewis Bedford
• Ralph Taylor
• Matthew Barker
• Jack Prideaux
• Emile Hudd
• Jan Gray
• Oliver Robinson
• Andrew Fargie
• Bill Cain
• Richard Heywood
• Owen Tucker