Essex won the toss and elected to bat first on a very bright and sunny day. They started well scoring 14 off the first 3 overs before our bowlers tightened up and by the 11th over they were 31-1. However this brought Nasser Hussain’s nephew to the wicket and with Intiaz, shared a partnership of 86 runs in only 18 overs with both batsmen targeting the slower bowling of Chris Stent.

Once Hussain was out Essex really put their foot down scoring 94 runs in only 14 overs. Harry Chapman returned for his second spell and caught Initiaz off his own bowling before accounting for another Essex batsman 4 balls later. By the end of the 45 overs, Essex had scored 216 runs. Notable performances from Kent were Harry Chapman who bowled really well early on, Harry Furze and Velsen Deverajulu. In all the only 5 wides were bowled during the innings.

Bowlers
James Jones 9-1-40-1
Harry Chapman 8-1-26-2
Harry Furze 8-0-31-0
Oliver Lea 3-0-11-0
Christian Stent 6-0-48-0
Velsen Devarajulu 6-0-18-0
Will Thirkell 6-1-37-1

In response Kent started very positively scoring at 5 runs per over for the first 11 overs before losing their first wicket, Baker White bowled by a delivery that shot along the ground.

This set the scene for a very good spell from the Essex leg spinner Vasani (3-33) who at one stage had 2-8 off 5 overs. As the required run rate climbed Kent responded with partnerships of 42, 34 and 53 in 23 overs.

Central to all this was a very good innings from Rob Sehmi who hit the shorter ball extremely well through midwicket. Rob was eventually out in the last over for 63 when Kent needed 14 runs to win. Finally Kent ended on 208-9 resulting in a losing draw but a very good game of cricket.

KYC Under 14 Emerging Spitfires
Matt Hammond 30
George Baker-White 25
Velsen Deverajulu 8
Christian Stent 1
Mike Dowding 17
Robert Sehmi 63
Harry Furze 15
Will Thirkell 23
James Meddings 2
Oliver Lea 4*
Harry Chapman 0*

The team:
George Baker White (Capt.)
Harry Chapman
Velsen Devarajulu
Mike Dowding
Harry Furze
Matt Hammond
James Jones
Oliver Lea
James Meddings
Robert Sehmi  (Wicket Keeper)
Christian Stent
Will Thirkell

Match drawn.