There was little doubt before the game as to which team were assured of a mid-table finish and which team needed to win to guarantee promotion. Dartfordians warm-up was intense, OE’s pottered around a bit looking for a second set of bails. Due to Nick Smith’s decision to host a party on a cricket day, several stalwarts were missing, giving us the chance to give more youngsters game time in a competitive adult cricket environment.
Reyhan was standing in for Irv as skipper, and despite losing the toss, managed to get us batting first. So far, so good. Sadly, the first ball of the match was a corker, bowling Rikin for, let’s call it a diamond duck. This brought Dan to the crease, who proceeded, to inform Dartfordians that he’s usually the 2s number 11. His classical square drive for four looked better than that, but, in the second over, he was done by another cracking away swinger from Dartfordians’ Barker which took the edge and Ross pulled off a very smart catch behind the stumps. Everything was ok, Bushy had time to spare and strode out to take the next ball. Sadly, that was his innings, as Barker found another snorter, bowling Bushy…5 for 3 in the 3rd over is not the ideal place to be. However, by playing the ball watchfully and late, Jack did a fantastic job of nullifying Barker’s excellent away swing, while Reyhan hid batted patiently at the other end.
These two consolidated very well, taking the score on to 48 before Jack’s leading edge offered a tough chance to Barker for a low return catch, which he took well. Reyhan had intriguingly moved past 30 without any singles – remember, he was hiding batting patiently at the less threatening end. Hammer arrived, smacking Barker for four early, and allowing Reyhan to enjoy his favoured end. These two took the score up to 69 for 4 – not a disaster, but with Dartfordians’ extra cover counting down ball by ball to the drinks break from over 16. With Barker bowled out, Dartfordians skipper came on to bowl some fairly loopy spin. Reyhan decided to sweep a straight one, which he missed, giving Rikin no option but to raise his finger as send the skipper on his way for a patient 39. Tow balls before drinks, Hammer had a standard rush of blood to the head, skying a slower one to cover point, leaving Seb to try to rebuild after drinks. Instead, Seb skied one to mid off shortly after drinks and it was Noah and Felix who steadied the ship, picking off singles well, until Noah called Felix back for a tight two and it was that man Barker again whose throw from the boundary did for Felix. Max arrived looking unruffled by the pace from the far end, unlike Noah, whose ugly swipe across the line saw him bowled. Herbie arrived to join Max, but nicked one to slip where, guess who – Barker, took a smart chance to close out OE’s innings, probably around 120 short of par for a good pitch.

Dartfordians now knew, that they just needed to muster 90 runs to secure promotion. No problem? Noah’s dismissal of their opener with a nice straight full toss, matched with Bushy’s threatening speel from the College end started to ask significant questions. Life was not comfortable for Dartfordians’ batters as they struggled to keep up with the two an over asking rate off the first ten. With Bushy tiring (must have been that long innings with the bat), Herbie came on to bowl a typically tight spell, unlucky not to take a wicket. Noah kept going, but when the time came to replace him, Max took up the attack from the pavilion end. Max’s away movement had Dartfordians batters groping hopelessly for the ball outside their off-stump. However, miraculously, he was left wicketless despite, in effect, humiliating a couple of adult batters who struggled to lay a bat on him. Jack was brought into the attack in the hope of creating chaos, however, a very tight over which went for one, couldn’t make the breakthrough, and in the 18th over, Dartfordians crossed the line, to top the league and consign a bold OE’s team to defeat. Ultimately, we won as many as we lost, several of which we should have won – the future is bright, not just for next year but in years to come. Surrounded by hockeyists, plus a notable home support (thank you all the parents, Chair and Treasurer and Jonny Nicholls for your support) the following awards were awarded:

MOM – Jack Brooks (all round performance)
DOD – Seb
Champagne Moment – Max Turner (staring down Darts No 3)
Rikin Parikh PRR Award – Reyhan
John West Leaping Salmon award – Felix
Mappy Magic Finger – Reyhan (going over)
Jon Doyle Dog Breeders static fielding award – Reyhan
Hammer Supersupporter of the day – Robin Brooks (who umpired!)