Lucas scores his maiden KCVL 50

Another good win, but the 2s had to work hard for this one. Outwood invited their visitors to bat on a grassy wicket and despite some hostile early bowling by Marcus, Lucas and Dru, Penshurst started well. Although their openers put on 100 for the first wicket they were never comfortable, scoring heavily from edges and offline deliveries. A couple of wickets fell quickly at the 100 mark but Penshurst continued to bat steadily without ever getting away. Their final total of 185 for 4 in 40 overs represented a fine effort by the Outwood bowlers, and especially their brilliant young fielders.

Outwood also started well in reply on a good batting wicket with Paul Howard and Lucas Evans posting 80 for the first wicket. Lucas looked in fine form with a mixture of patient defence and well-timed attacking shots. He went to his first league 50 with a six and huge cheers from his large fan club, but perished trying to repeat the shot a few balls later. At 90 - 1 and well ahead of the run rate, Outwood were cruising but Penshurst continued to bowl very few bad balls and Outwood's desire the finish the job lead to some ill-judged shots straight to fielders in the deep. At 138 - 7 the match was still in the balance as Hamish Bignell joined Nat Hiscocks at the crease. Despite Outwood's long batting line-up the large crowd were beginning to get nervous, especially as Hamish was having difficulty in getting the tight Penshurst bowling away. Nat, however, supported his inexperienced partner brilliantly and kept the score ticking with some judicious hard-hitting. With 2 overs still to go he finished the match in a flurry of big sixes to give Outwood an exhilarating win.

A great all-round performance from a young Outwood team, showing resilience and the importance of having strength in depth.