OE 11 Braves, with everybody looking forward to the season opener, was led by Olly S who lost the toss but was asked to bat first.

The lads then had a bit of fun! Dylan hit a couple of sixes before he, like Olly S & AJ, retired on 20, then Randy got a few before he got out, Aran hit a nice boundary, and Fergus & Toby finished with a few good boundaries to take OEs’ total to a very healthy 130 off 20 overs, with 4 batters - Ayan, Thomas, Leo, Oli G - not needing to pad up.

Leo (0/7) and Oli G (0/4) offered a very tidy opening spell. Aran (1/4) then got the first breakthrough in the 7th over, which was quickly followed another wicket from Fergus (1/4) in the very next over. Toby (0/22) had to contend with a few IPL shots from the middle order, while Ayan (0/8) kept the lid from the other end with some spin variety. Randy (0/4) tried a few bouncers, with some being called no-balls, although very frugal otherwise and kept the scoring rate down together with AJ (0/7) . This set the scene for Olly S (0/7) and Dylan (0/12), who finished with a run out in the frantic end stages, to keep Bexleyheath to just over 100 and wrap up a comfortable defence.

Special mention to Thomas for some outstanding wicket-keeping that is not necessarily reflected in the bowling figures and scores, but invaluable all the same. As is often said, it's the fielding, and above all wicket-keeping, that makes a good team look great - this was certainly the case for the Braves on Monday.

All told, an excellent season start for the OE U11 Braves, with the biggest thanks going to the clouds that stayed comfortably away from the action to complete the Coronation weekend!