The opening match at New Beacon School was played in almost continuous rain and both sides put up an excellent show with some brilliant catches being taken. Spitfires defended their total, Appleby 54 with good contributions from McClean and Chaudhry, of 176 - 9 by restricting Beacon to 117 - 8 with Todd Jordan taking two wickets. A good start to the season.

The Hertfordshire fixture was called off after heavy overnight rain and so on to Wellesley House in Broadstairs where a draw was scraped thanks to a personal best score of 57 not out from Gold after some woeful bowling and batting.

On a sweltering hot day at Bancroft’s,  Essex were bowled out for 169 with Chaudhry and Cox both taking two wickets. A good effort but what followed was chaos between the wickets with 3 of the first five to fall being run out by some distance. It was a crushing defeat and a repeat looked on the cards when we were bowled out for 87 against London County C.C., Cox rescuing things with 34. However a determined bowling and fielding display with Josh Todd taking 4 wickets enabled the Spitfires to win by just five runs.

The following match away to Surrey was played on a very small pitch at St.George’s, Weybridge and having had them at 113-7 a combination of good batting and some slack fielding allowed Surrey to reach 219 all out from their 45 overs. In replying we lost a wicket in the second over for no score but a strong partnership between Chaudhry and Dale put on 76 runs in 14 overs left us in a good position to push on for victory. However indecisive batting meant only 36 were scored in the next 14 which left the later batsmen with too much to do too quickly and Surrey bowled the Spitfires out for 151.

On the 4th July, London Schools were crushed at The Bat & Ball ground by 9 wickets after seven bowlers had removed the opponents and McClean scored 46 not out.

The return match with Surrey at Old Colfeians was another defeat but although both sides found runs harder to score, the eventual margin was much the same. Brushett bowled well and several batsmen got a start but failed to go on.

The “must not lose” match against the KYC Under 11’s followed at Tonbridge School. Again some slow batting in the middle part of the innings threatened a low total but Whatman and Jordan at 9 and 10 spread the field and enabled the Spitfires to set a reasonable target. The Under 11 ‘s were restricted to 140 - 6 for the Spitfires to win by 24 runs.
 
So to the Taunton Festival with the party strengthened by three U12’s who were playing in  the KYC Under 13’s championship winning team. Berkshire were tough opponents as usual and while several batsmen made contributions it was Appleby’s 63 from number seven which enabled the Spitfires to set up a winning draw, their opponents with two wickets standing ended 34 runs short. Zak Crawley took three wickets. The next day Wiltshire were bowled over for 131 with O’Riordan taking 4 wickets for three runs from 5 overs with three maidens. After losing 2 wickets for nine runs a sixty run partnership for the third wicket set Kent on the way to a comfortable 7 wicket victory with twenty-five overs to spare. O’Riordan top scored with 38 not out.
On the Saturday the grass pitches were unplayable so 20 overs per side hardball matches were played on a mat on the astroturf and Kent beat St.Stithians from South Africa with two balls to spare in a thrilling contest. Crawley and Heywood both scored undefeated 50’s and Kent were crowned Festival winners with the trophies and medals  being presented by Ken Palmer the former Test Match umpire and Somerset player.

To finish the season Sussex were played at Polo Farm, Canterbury in a 45 overs per side match. Going in first, Sussex scored 225 - 6  on a good batting track, doubling their score from 30 overs.
In reply the Spitfires were 35 - 1 after six overs but while not losing a wicket  for the next 21 only scored 46 runs in that time. This made it very difficult for the other batsmen who had to take undue risks, several giving their wickets away in the cause. Boltman, with his best knock of the season, and Appleby showed what could have been achieved by scoring 76 in the last 8 overs. The eventual margin was 30 runs with four wickets in hand so if we had scored less than 0.7 runs per over more during the innings …

To sum up, a frustrating season with Taunton being the highlight. The batting needed to be more decisive, the bowling and fielding suffered from spells of looseness and lack of concentration. These players will have to work very hard in the winter to achieve their potential.

However they are generally a cheerful bunch, love their cricket and try hard. It has been a pleasure to be involved with them.

Neil Taylor and Andrew Mew