The Sundays ventured to the lovely ground Chelsfield with clear skies on a scorcher of a day. Before Lushy could even say "bat first", West lost the toss and the Bears were put in to field. From the first over, it was apparent the deck had a bit of spice, with West getting a ball to carry above waist height! An inebriated Lush opened the bowling with West and the Chelsfield batsmen proved difficult to get out. Silk, in his debut for the Bears, took a clear caught behind off Lush, however the umpire was unmoved- even in the presence of a cherry garnishing the opener's outside edge. After a solid opening stand, West broke the partnership courtesy of a clinical catch from Harry 'Bucket Hands' Norton. The next pair of bats put a rather good partnership, with Lush and Surrey unusually wicketless. To break this partnership, West called on the offies of Private Patton. Despite being hit for a few and having had a dropped catch off his bowling, Private Patton inevitably got into the wickets column. First caught West, then caught swiftly by Bucket Hands, as the Bears pulled the score back. Some added brilliance in the field from Private helped the Bears claw their way back. Bobby bowled well, controlling the run rate before the Badger joined in on the action, with a Silky stumping (after an excellent first few overs). Lush burgled a wicket towards the end. He also went for 50. From 114-1, the Bears limited Chelsfield to 201-6 in an attritional performance in the Kentish Sun. Bucket hands even took a screamer over the boundary rope, sadly 6 though. Special mention to Salter who was given the unenviable task of the final 2 overs from the top end.

Having recovered from a tiresome 40, the Bears began the chase. The fines will say that West missed a straight one- not strictly true - it got a bit of edge and a bit of pad, but nonetheless pea rolled onto the stumps. Silk started with a crashing four, while Bobby was his usual self, timing some beautiful shots. The track still had plenty in it, and this pair did brilliantly to see off the openers and bring up 100-1. An inspired bowling change from Chelsfield conjured a wicket. This leggy in a stroke of genius only seen in village cricket, pitched his first ball nearer himself than the batsman and Bobby fired the ball to cover who leapt like a salmon, taking a one handed worldy. 104-2, Bobby out for 76. Soon Silk, who'd batted brilliantly on debut, sliced a leading edge to the bowler for 24. Petty played a horror shot, bringing in form Lush to the crease. Striking well he raced to 13 but also played a horror shot. 137-5. Surrey and Chipping Norton combined brilliantly however. Norton had the moment of the day, launching an enormous 6 over midwicket. You could tell he enjoyed that, with his beaming smile. Unfortunately Surrey did a Bairstow and left his crease, stumped by Shakil Carey. Norton followed suit and even raised his bat as he walked off caught out for 28. The tail end gave it a good go, with Tanky hitting a perfect cover drive - yes you heard that right. Salter even had the bystanders gazing off into the trees after swinging his bat like a scythe- only to realize he hadn't got it off the square. And Baker to some peoples' amusement bagged a first baller, Jerry's finger raised the instant it crashed into the pad.

All in all, a cracking performance with a mixed team. Everyone chipped in and we lost fighting hard. Welcome also to Silky, who kept and batted brilliantly. Onto East Sussex for the Sundays now- hopefully as I'm writing this everyone has already departed to make the meet time 13:00. Remember to bring trunks.