Bearsted's captain, Lucas Brookman, elected to bowl first. However it soon become apparent that Cranbrook were a very well drilled batting unit. Their first pair showed their aggressive intent hitting 39 runs off the first 4 overs, through a barrage of boundaries often helped by some wayward leg side Bearsted bowling.

After 10 overs Cranbrook had amassed 95 runs and on course for a huge score. But in the 11th over Lucas made the crucial breakthrough by taking the first wicket. This seemed to inspire the rest of the bowlers as by the end of the 16th over they had taken 7 wickets, with Luke Merry Lucas and Drew Kennedy each taking two wickets each, which restricted their scoring.

Unfortunately the last Cranbrook pair proved to be more stubborn with a flourish of runs for the loss of just one additional wicket, with Cranbrook ending with a score of 304-8, including 16 boundaries and 24 from extras (too many wides!). Key bowling stats were Luke Merry 2-10, Luca Callander 1-13, Rob Maughan 1-13, Drew Kennedy 2-19 and Lucas Brookman 2-6. There were also some positives in the fielding with Rob and Drew close to pulling off catches Ben Stokes would have been proud of.

With a run rate of just 5 an over the Bearsted boys were confident having chased down bigger targets before. But as with their batting, Cranbrook proved themselves to be a very capable bowling unit, with every player bowling at a good pace and accuracy.

Bearsted's first batting pair of Euan Coveney, on his debut, alongside Lucas got off to a steady start with the loss of only 1 wicket. This continued with the second pair of Luca and Luke who added a very impressive 21 runs through positive running between the wickets. After 8 overs Bearsted were 33-1 and on track. However the next 8 overs saw Bearsted lose 8 wickets including 3 run-outs through some poor decision making when taking quick runs and poor shot selection to straight balls. Despite a late flourish by the last batting pair of Drew and Leo, the highlight being a boundary by Leo hitting the ball back over the bowlers head dropping just short of a maximum, adding 15 runs, Bearsted ended with a disappointing score of 234-10. Top scorer was Luca Callender with 18, who secured the man of the match award, but pushed hard by Luke Merry who also had an strong match with both bat and ball.

Bearsted now move onto their next match against Staplehurst with some work to do as the step up into a very competitive hardball cricket league shows there is little margin for error when batting or bowling.

The disappointment of the result was at least slightly eased by the glorious after match catering by the hosts. Onwards and upwards!!