The weather was beautiful and we had an opportunity to put the demons from our away game against Roebucks last week to bed. It all started so well when, 15 minutes before the start time, Jamie realised we had not got his kit with us. After searching high and low, it was eventually discovered well in to the first innings of the match, at Foxgrove in lost property. Nothing more will ever be said about it in the Oxley household!

A very different Roebucks line up to the previous match batted first having won the toss, and, despite losing reasonably regular wickets, scored far more freely than we expected, and despite excellent bowling in particular from Sam and Laura (1 wicket each, and only 4 runs from the bat across all 4 overs bowled), Roebucks were very well placed at 273/8 after 16 overs. Fortunately, the game turned quickly on its head, and with 4 excellent overs from Ade (2 overs, 2 wickets, 12 runs, 1 wide, 0 no balls) and Jamie (2 overs, 3 wickets (plus one caught behind that I should really have given...!), 3 runs, 1 wide, 0 no balls), including a team hat-trick, we restricted them to 249/13. Other wickets were taken by Jack (2), and 1 each to Ellie, Harry and Sebi.

The momentum was with Beckenham from that moment on. An excellent, wicketless opening partnership from Jack and season debutant Harry took us to 226/0 after 4 overs, and was followed by some solid defensive work from Jake and Sam, seeing off two "new" bowlers who hadn't played last week. 229/2 after 8 became 244/3 (with Laura and Ellie batting) after 12, and a very fluid partnership of 32 between Jamie and Henry, who both scored at more than a run a ball, took us to 276/4 after 16. By this stage, the game was up for Roebucks and they knew it. Another 32 partnership between Ady and Sebi meant that we reached our highest team score of the season, 308/5, and winning by 59 runs.

There were so many positives from this match that I found it difficult to single out a particular player. I therefore award two players of the match. Firstly to Sebi, who kept beautifully, and held a season-high three great catches, as well as reaching 10 not out from 9 balls. Secondly (sorry...) to Jamie - 3 wickets (including the second time he has bowled a double wicket maiden in the final over of a match this season) for only 1 run off the bat and then the highest net score of 13 not out.

As most of you know, before committing to this match, I had a lengthy conversation with Mo, and it was great to see that all of our concerns from the previous match had been addressed. Not everyone also realised that they used and paid a neutral umpire themselves for this game, with a Bromley Bulldogs coach stepping in to try and keep order. He was brilliant, and consistently prevented the Roebucks from stepping over the mark. He also kept the game moving where we had finished in near darkness in the first match.

I had a stream of messages after the match from Mo, thanking us for the way we handled both matches, and above all praising us all:

"please pass on my congratulations to all of the U11Bs - you have a great team, great parents and great players. You play lovely cricket and the kids are an absolutely credit to the club".

I am so proud of what we have achieved so far this season. Thinking back to the first game against Sidcup when we were bowled 17 times in 20 overs, you have all come so far. It is simply exceptional. Let's try and take the final game by storm, and show Bromley Common how good we really are.