Kent Cricket Board – Under 12 and Under 14s District Finals

Kent Cricket Board District Competition

Under 12 and Under 14s District Finals

Polo Farm Sports Ground, Canterbury

09/09/2012

The Kent Cricket Board District Competition came to a close on one of the most glorious days for Cricket in 2012. Bromley, Canterbury and Sevenoaks who featured in both age group finals travelled to Polo Farm to play their final games.

Starting at 11:00am, Sevenoaks Under 12s were put in to bat and made a very steady start against some tight Canterbury bowling, which was backed up by some good fielding. Keeping wickets in tact, Sevenoaks were able to accelerate in the second half of the innings to reach 145 for 5 from their 30 overs, with captain Ellis Winsper top scoring with 36.

With a very similar start to their innings despite an early loss, Canterbury built themselves a solid platform thanks to a particularly confident 30 from Matty Nordin. However as they looked to increase the run rate and keep the target in their sights, Canterbury lost wickets at regular intervals. With the sun still beating down, Canterbury showed no signs of giving in, but any hope of a late flurry was diminished when Rohan Sharma took a brilliant hat-trick, finishing with 4 for 5. Canterbury finished on 97 all out.

Also starting at 11:00am Sevenoaks won the toss and decided to bowl, a decision that turned a few heads given the cloudless sky and high temperatures. However, a simply fantastic opening spell from Freddie Brushett 6-4-5-5 and Adam Kirkbright 5.1-2-7-5 saw Bromley dismissed for 23. In a state of near disbelief, the teams switched roles and returned to the field after a short break. After 6 overs Sevenoaks had only managed 6 for 1, with Bromley also showing great discipline with the ball on what looked to be a good batting pitch. Yet Sevenoaks showed good judgement in leaving the ball and picked off the target of 24 inside 10 overs.

Both matches were played in the true spirit of the game and some brilliant Cricket was on display. As stated by Dave Turner, Chairman of the High Performance Team – “The District Competition is absolutely vital to Cricket in Kent as it feeds directly into the County Age Groups”. As if to emphasise the point, a number of county age group coaches were in attendance throughout the day, as well as Simon Willis from the Kent Cricket Academy as well as a special visit from Kent 1st Team coach, Jimmy Adams.

At the end of another fantastic District Competition, the Kent Cricket Board would once again like to extend their thanks to all district managers, coaches, parents and umpires for making the competition such a success.