Stan took the ball first for Elstead and continued his fine recent bowling form. A really tight over deserved reward, but Stan dropped a good catching chance off his own bowling to remove the Guildford opener. Cillian shared the new ball duties, and also opened up with a tidy first over. Stan's good bowling continued in his second over, and he was very unlucky to not get better reward for his efforts, when both Tom and Harry dropped chances off his bowling they would normally have made with ease. In between the drops Stan did clean bowl the other Guildford opener with a nice in-swinging yorker and finished with figures of 1 for 5, with 3 regulation catches being put down off his bowling.

Unfortunately for Elstead, the loss of the first Guildford wicket brought to the crease an outstanding Guildford batter, who set about our subsequent bowling with an onslaught of boundaries. Cillian's second over went for 11, Tom's first went for 12, and even Danny, who bowled extremely well again wasn't spared punishment, conceding 8 off his first over. All of this was not helped by another 2 dropped catches that Tom and Danny would have expected to have held onto. Three runs into Tom's second over, the Guildford #3 hit a rasping boundary and had to retire on 31 not out off just 15 balls. The score had rocketed to 49 for 1 off just 7 overs.

But at this point Elstead switched on. The fielding became sharper, and the bowling accuracy improved. Danny's second over led to an immediate wicket, and he saw out a maiden to end on 1 for 8. Jake came on to bowl next and bowled a tidy first over that could have been even better had a return catch been held - Elstead's 6th dropped catch in just 9 overs. Had we held all those the innings would have been over already, but instead Guildford pressed on, but now at much slower pace against accurate bowling.

Harry came on to bowl next and took Elstead's first held catch off his own bowling. Jake and Harry bowled tidy seconds, and when Gabe took the ball he also kept the scoring rate down. The introduction of Benji saw the next wicket fall - Danny this time clinging on to the opportunity, before following it up with a second catch in the next over off the bowling of Gabe. Benji then got a clean-bowled wicket in his next over which was also a maiden, to finish on excellent figures of 2 for 2.

It was then over to Matty and things unravelled even faster for Guildford - and ill-judged run led to a run-out first ball thanks to good work from Tom and Lochie, and a couple of balls later, Matty had the final Guildford batter out bowled, bagging figures of 1 for 2 in the procees. At one stage it looked as though Elstead might have to chase 140+, but in the end Guildford were all out for 83.

Stan and Benji volunteered to open for Elstead, and although the Guildford opening bowlers were accurate, the pair batted watchfully, and ran well between the wickets. With the score on 10 off the first 3 overs, Stan then started to accelerate, with a coupel of lovely shots for 4. The good scoring rate continued and Stan reached 19 off 29 balls before being beaten by a pacey delivery. The ball did not appear to hit the stumps, but a bail was on the floor and Stan was trudging off having set an decent platform for victory.

Tom came to the crease next, and he and Benji continued the serene progress, with Benji eventually retired not out for 7 off 30 balls. That brought Harry to the crease, but his partnership with Tom never really got going as the latter was excellently caught by a Guildford fielder - a shot which on another day would have been a rasping 4. At this point the score was 58 for 2 and the target was getting closer and closer. Danny came out to join Harry, and looked in a rush to get over the line, striking a couple of lovely boundary 4s. Unfortunately Danny perished trying to hit the winning 6 (following lots of 'encouragement' from his Dad) - but edging it into his stumps.

The end came just an over later though - Jake came in to join Harry, and sealed the win with a boundary in the 17th over.

It was comfortable in the end, against a really lovely group of kids from Guildford. A deserved win, but future victories will be hard to come by if we don't tighten up our catching!

Players of the match as selected by Guildford:
Bowler = Danny
Batter = Benji