Things got off to an odd start, with Marden initially thinking the game was being played at Bearsted. After this was resolved (Bearsted were the away team), further confusion was around exactly who and where they were to play their match.

Eventually they got to start their match against an all female Marden team not on a cricket pitch but on the hockey teams astro pitch...sharing with another team training?!
The confusing nature of things clearly effected the Bearsted players as, after winning the toss and electing to bat first under captain Henry Shepherd,the first pair seemed to lose any cricketing nous repeatedly being run out to shots played straight to close fielders. So bad were these first 4 overs that it was agreed they should never be spoken of again!

However the next pair of Henry and Rob started to get things moving with positive running adding 26 to the score. This continued with the pairing of Mo (for his first game of the season)and Ashley adding 20 and Tom and Joe putting on another 16 despite a couple of needless run outs by each pair. The final pair (Drew and Ollie) put on another 24 runs but again the good work was hit by more run outs. Eventually Bearsted pulled themselves to a respectable score of 271 but in the process had lost 13 wickets, 8 of which were to run outs!

After a half time hairdryer from their coach the Bearsted team got off to the best possible start with a first ball wicket for Drew. A wicket for Joe and tight bowling restricted the Marden first pair to keep the score at 200. The middle session of the Marden innings saw too many wides from the Bearsted attack, with a total of 43 extras leaked unnecessarily.

The final Marden pair came out needing 30 runs for victory. However two early run outs and tight bowling from Mo and Joe meant it was 30 off 2 overs. Enter Drew and Henry to bowl the final two overs. Drew took 3 wickets with a maiden over followed by Henry taking a hat-trick with his first three deliveries of the final over, leaving Marden on 205-14.

Man of the match was Henry for an impressive all round captains performance, top scoring with 15 and bowling stats of 2-4-4. He was pushed all the way by Drew who scored 11 and took 4-3 from his two overs. Wickets were shared out with Angus, Joe, Ollie and Tom all taking a wicket each. Special mention for Leo Petty for an outstanding wicket keeping performance which saw him finish the game with 7 dismissals (2 stumping's and 5 catches) and catch of the day from Mo.

A 66 run victory maintains their momentum but the Bearsted players know they need to improve all aspects of their game if they are to keep their win streak going.