KCC Youth give a strong performance in defeat

Once again the 3rds were struggling for players due to injury and lack of availability of players in the 1st and 2nd team. So once again we called on the KCC youth players to step up and do heir best for the club and they didn't let us down. In the absence of John and Ran it was down to Paul Hewitt to captain, as always supported by Martin Eagle. Unfortunately we lost the toss and were asked to bat on a damp wicket. After a decent start Martin chased a wide one and got caught and Mark Turner soon followed. The captain stuck around for a bit but gave his wicket away when he needed to dig in for the team. So it was left to the youth players to dig us out of a hole and put some runs on the board for the bowlers. Harry Brock, playing his first senior match showed, maturity beyond his years batting with patience and care for his 19 runs. Harry built good partnerships with Josef Hewitt (12) and Thomas Owen (9) to keep the score moving and importantly see out the overs. Lauren Smith came in late but also showed good confidence and control and finished 9 not out along with Oscar Hewitt, 4 not out, to take the score past 100.
After a fine tea KCC took to the field with the captain standing in as wicketkeeper! Thomas Owen and Simon Hague opened the bowling and gave a good display of swing bowling, both very unlucky not to pick up a wicket.
The Kennington batsmen were accumulating runs at a good pace so after some bowling and fielding changes on the advice of Martin Eagle, KCC finally made the break though with Lauren Smith holding her nerve to continue bowling after going a for a couple of boundaries and getting the young opener Hasan Ali caught for 35 by Harry Brock, a good catch on debut. Jack Launchbury then got in on the action having the new man caught by Martin Eagle, an excellent effort as he had to turn and make a lot of ground. Martin Eagle was the man taking the catch again as the third wicket went to Lauren who did well to come back and bowl really well after a difficult first over.
Not the result we wanted but great to see our youth players coming through and performing so well.
Thanks to all who played.