The final game of the season arrived with a blaze of sunshine, and Beckenham U11B were ready to avenge the 2 run defeat dealt cruelly to us by Bromley Common back in the rain in June.

All started well, with Beckenham winning the toss and batting, meaning that we would at least be batting in daylight at the end of our innings, which proved to be quite an advantage. As expected, Bromley Common fielded two excellent Bulldogs players, who both bowled exceptionally throughout. The difference between the standard of bowling and batting of their top and lesser players is probably the biggest in the entire division, so we tried to put together a batting order that matched and cancelled out their better players. This ultimately failed, as BC bowled both for 3 overs each, meaning only one of our batting pairs missed out on facing at least one of the two bowlers. Unfortunately these two took seven wickets, all bowled, between them, with only 5 falling to the rest of the team. This left Beckenham in a somewhat difficult position after 12 overs at 215/10. The penultimate pair of Struan (3 not out from 11 balls) and Daniel (18 not out from 21 balls) took us up to to 248/10, a far more respectable score, and despite having 2 overs of Jared to face between them, Jamie (13 for 1 from 10 balls) and Henry (9 for 1 from 14 balls) ran well between the wickets and took the score to a competitive 266/12, probably 30 more runs than we expected to post.

After drinks, provided by the club bar at pitch side - a lovely touch, thank you - and ice lollies for both teams, the BC innings started. Excellent bowling from Ellie (3 overs, no maidens, no wickets for 11 runs, no wides or no balls) and Struan (3 overs, 1 maiden, 2 wickets for 4 runs, 1 no ball and no wides), off whom Sebbie made an excellent stumping on just the 4th ball, meant the score was just 202/2 after 4 overs. More tight overs from Sam (2-0-0-11, no wides or balls), and in particular Daniel (2-1-1-1, no wides or no balls) took the score to 210/3 from 8. Dhruv came in to bat in the third pair, and Beckenham's plan came in to action. Having scored 30 not out in his last game against us, the field was spread, giving him singles, but nothing else. Exceptional fielding and tight bowling from the designated bowlers to this pair, meant that Dhruv only faced 10 balls in the match, and this time only managed 12 runs, with the partnership only adding a total of 13 for the loss of two wickets, taking BC to 228/4. Bromley immediately knew the game was up, and good tight bowling through the final eight overs, including three wickets for Jamie and one for Bertie, meant that BC closed at 244/9.

So, we finish the season on 8 wins, 2 defeats, with 2 games cancelled. Good enough for 2nd place in the league, behind the eventual winners Sidcup, who played all 12 of their games, leaving them on 10 wins, 2 defeats. A bitter pill for us to swallow, given the absolute pasting we gave them at Sidcup Cricket Club (in the rain (again!)) a few weeks ago. Despite this, it has been an excellent season, and the improvement shown by every player who has represented us is mammoth. Congratulations everybody. Our B team last season did not come close to what you have achieved this term.

This match was a team win in the truest sense. We changed orders, switched fields up, and manipulated our game throughout to achieve this victory. For me, this is one of our greatest wins. As a result, and sorry for the terrible cliche, I am going to award the whole team "player of the match".

Finally, a big thank you for such a lovely send off yesterday. I've loved every minute of this season and I hope your children have too. We have had great fun and equally great results, but above all, played the game in the right way at every turn.

I intend to send out some heavily caveated and summarised player stats for the season at some point in the next couple of weeks, but I'm going on holiday tomorrow and I'm not sure Mrs Oxley is going to be terribly thrilled if I spend a few hours churning U11B cricket data!!

Tom