Having qualified from the Tunbridge Wells group stage of the Kent Forty competition, the under 9s travelled to Upchurch on Sunday to take part in the county finals alongside 10 other teams.

Our opening group game was against a well-drilled Sheldwich side. As per the competition rules, five runs are awarded to the fielding side for each wicket taken. The losing margin of 62 runs was comprised mainly of nine wickets lost with runs made by both sides fairly even.

We were beaten by Beckenham in our second game with the opposition ending the day as overall runners up.

Although we lost to Cowdrey in our final group game, it was evident across the three games the improvement in the boys’ batting (valuing wickets more greatly), our bowling (very few extras given away across the course of three day), and general fielding.

After watching the closing stages of the women’s World Cup final, we entered the plate competition and played against Deal Victoria in the semi-final. The Park emerged victorious by two runs; the difference in the two sides being that we only lost two wickets in a disciplined batting display. It was also encouraging that as well as the boys finding the boundary there was value placed on picking up singles and running well between the wickets to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

In the plate final we were pitted against Linton Park in a “park derby”. Linton Park, batted first, and made 73 from their 40 balls. We remained close to the target throughout our inning, but regular wickets meant that we were always just behind the required rate. A flurry of boundaries from the final two pairs put us ahead going into the final set of five and two runs ahead before the final ball of the game. A mixup on the final resulted in a run out and gifted Linton Park a wicket and subsequently the victory by 3 runs.

We finished therefore 10th overall in the county competition which, given limited availability due to holidays, was real testament to the eight players who played on the day. We came up against three strong opponents in our group, but what was most pleasing were the improvements made both individually and collectively across the course of the day, especially the boys’ running between the wickets and tight bowling. No doubt those moving onto the under 11s next season will continue to improve and those staying in the under 9s will give us a good base moving forward.

Thank you to Emmet for skippering so well and also to parents/taxi drivers for coming along and supporting your children. It was noticeable in two games the outside influence of other clubs’ parents from the sidelines and we must remember, as a club, that coaching from the boundary can lead to mixed messages and confusion on the field, and that the spirit of cricket is something special and unique to the game, and something we are all responsible for instilling and maintaining in our young players.