The pitch was green and turned out to be 'slow & low'. Conditions were pleasant. Beechwood won the toss and elected to field in what was agreed to be a 40 over match.

Bates and Cowell opened the bowling for Beechwood and it was quickly evident that the ball was likely to dominate the bat with only 13 runs coming from the first 10 overs. Cowell made the breakthrough with Cooksley taking the sort of catch Abi Titmuss would have been proud of right in the cleavage.

Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals and runs were at a premium as Broadway struggled to score at more than 2 an over. Cooksley replaced Bates and quickly took a wicket with his deadly full toss, Savory taking a smart catch. Savory replaced Cowell and produced a superb 8 over spell of leg spin that earned the excellent figures of 3 wickets for 4 runs. One delivery in particular "the wrong un" totally deceived the batsman and clean bowled him. Cooksley continued to cause problems, not with full tosses but lovely flight.Hill replaced Savory and Boss replaced Cooksley and although Boss struggled to find his line and length early on he did cause the batsmen problems picking up two wickets along the way. The innings closed with a run out off the last ball and Broadway finished on 108 for 9. Although they were only chasing a small target Beechwood were well aware they would have to earn their runs today.

Freeman and Kelly opened the batting and quickly found runs hard to come by. They were going along quite nicely when Freeman drove a ball back at the bowler which he diverted onto the stumps running out Kelly who was backing up, not something you'd catch me doing!

Warner came in and decided to try and dominate proceedings. This started well with him hitting a 6 and a 4 in one over but it quickly became apparent that the news of impending fatherhood had turned his brain to mush as he was caught and bowled by the same bowler that had dropped him 3 balls earlier playing the same shot!

Morton was next up and in the face of accusations that he was a one-shot pony set about proving them entirely accurate. He was soon bowled playing "that shot", he's played it that many times you'd have thought he would have mastered it by now.

Hill came to the crease and quickly departed, caught off a top edge as Beechwood 's players struggled to adjust to the pace of the pitch. Bates came in and was bowled by one that kept low and all of a sudden things seemed to be in the balance even though Beechwood only needed 33 runs from the last 10 overs.

Woodward or "Douglas" as he is affectionately known after Douglas Bader for his running prowess between the wickets was next in and he and Freeman continued to edge towards the target. All of a sudden the Sanatogen kicked in for Tony "The Finisher" Freeman and he struck several boundaries that swung the balance of the match and Beechwood got home with an over to spare.

It has come to the attention of your roving reporter that some players didn't feel they got as much of a mention as yours truly last season. In order to redress the balance allow me to give you an insight into the match preparation of one of our senior players - Dean Kelly.

Dean is an avid Chelsea fan and spent Saturday evening toasting their championship win in various watering holes but like all good sportsmen he remembered the importance of stretching before a match. Unfortunately I believe he spent the early hours of Sunday morning stretching his jaws and stomach lining but he didn't let his team mates down and did a sterling job in the field.

A special mention for Matthew and Louise French who were married in Tenterden on Saturday 23rd April. Many Congratulations.

Team: Bates, Boss, Cooksley, Cowell, Freeman, Hill, Kelly, Morton, Savory, Warner, Woodward (c)