Kent Under 11 Girls  118-7 (25 Overs) (Morgan Freeman 21 retired not out, Maddie Hughes 20)
Bapchild Under 11 Boys 98-4 (25 overs) (Sophia Long 2-4, Izzy Cloke 1-4).
Run outs:    None    Catches: Morgan Freeman.

Result:  Kent Under 11 Girls Won by 20 Runs

Kent Under 11 Girls continued their winning ways with a good win against the boys from Bapchild.  They were the only boys team to defeat the girls last season, and so it was pleasing to come out on top this time.

Maddie Hughes and Charlotte Henderson stepped up as captain and vice for this match as our usual captains were not available for this match.  They lost the toss and we were put in.

Ellie Harbourne and Molly Davis opened as they did against Essex the week before.  Ellie hit the first ball for four, and soon afterwards Molly also hit her first ever boundary.  These two youngsters are developing into a good opening pair but just as their partnership was getting going, Ellie was well caught in the covers and Molly ran herself out going for a second run.

Maddie’s good eye helped her to dispatch loose balls to the leg side boundary. She ran well and ended up with a second top scoring knock of 21.  One wonders how many runs she will get in the future if she can learn to play to hit straight and off side deliveries?

Ella hit some lusty blows, including a hard hit which injured a boys close in at midwicket, but she quickly succumbed to a straight one.  There then followed a good middle order partnership between Morgan and Charlotte.  Like last week, it proved to be a match winner and both were happily retired not out.

After Lottie was out first ball, it was nice to see our young lower order batters – Izzy, Annabelle and Bobbie - getting a few runs in the last overs, although   Sophia did not take kindly to their big fast bowler coming back on at the end and so she took the quick way out!

We know that we have some good bowlers and so we were confident of defending our total.  The boys were technically correct but fortunately they did not take any risks at running, so they fell behind the run rate.  It was not until the 10th over that we took a wicket – it was Sophia.  She bowled beautifully straight, and could have had more wickets had she followed through and taken a caught and bowled.

The boys had wickets in hand and we gave everyone a bowl.  In doing so we also gave them a lot of wides and at one stage we were in danger of letting Bapchild back into the game.  However, out straighter bowlers came back at the end and tightened things up to ensure victory in the end.

On the fielding front, there is still much work to do.  Without our usual leadership, things were not only very quiet in the field, there was a lack of urgency to walk in and ‘hunt the ball down’.  Exceptions were Elodie – who takes the fielding honours this week, both keepers – Lottie and Molly, and Morgan, who, when she happened to pay attention, took a nice running catch!  Sadly Bobbie could not repeat the heroics of seven days ago – never mind.