On an overcast evening at Foxgrove, the A team came roaring back to form with a crushing win against Hayes.

Ted lost the toss and Beckenham were put into bat, with Evie and Vasco leading from the front. 30 runs came from the first three overs as the boundaries flowed off some short-pitched bowling.

Evie became the first of 6 batters to fall to a catch, but Sanjay (20) and Adam (23) kept up the momentum. With Vasco retiring after smashing 27 off just 16, the Becks were looking good with 100 coming up inside 15 overs. All the new batters kept up the pressure with aggressive running and good calling, and Laila (18), Myles (8) and Zack (8) all made valuable contributions. The innings closed at 143-7, a very decent score.

Hayes struggled with the bat from the start, as Laila (0-2 off 2) and Adam (1-4) set the tone with good, straight bowling. Evie then rearranged the stumps of the number three with an unplayable yorker, and the wickets continued to fall as a combination of scoreboard pressure, tight bowling and aggressive fielding took their toll.

Krish and Ted ran out numbers four and five respectively with direct hits before Sam and Dillon (who kept very impressively throughout) combined to take out number 10.

Sanjay (2-3) and Zack (1-4) mopped up the lower middle order, before Krish put Hayes out of their misery by bowling number 11. Hayes finished 54 all out inside 17 overs, Becks win by a whopping 89.

Fair play to Hayes for keeping going when they could have easily called their innings off due to the rain. But this was a much improved showing compared to last time out, and we were well supported with involvement of club overseas player Callum.

The highlights included the excellent running of singles, which meant that while the boundaries flowed from the start, there was no let-up for the oppo bowlers. The fielding was much more on the front foot, there were three well executed run-outs and a couple of very solid catches from Sanjay and Zack.

Good stuff all round, let’s build on this and go again next week.