Christian was skip for the day, and leading a fairly strong Park team, which welcomed the return of young Bob, who had amazingly been co-erced out of retirement. Bexleyheath, fielding a keen young side, as usual a mixture of 2nd and 3rd team players won the toss and elected to bat on a sultry afternoon at Welling. The Partridge brothers opened the bowling, and Craig's pace and Dave's cunning use of flight soon had the Bexleyheath openers in trouble. It wasn't long before both openers were back in the pavilion, and when Roger Weston took a superb catch off his chest (what a guy!!) to dismiss the Bexleyheath number 3, Park were promisingly on top with the score at 26-3. But, as the new batsmen found their touch, the score began to mount menacingly at a rate of about 6 an over. With Bexleyheath gaining momentum at 53 after 8 overs, an inspired bowling change brought on Roger to replace Craig, and in his excellent first over he dismissed the dangerous Castleton for 34. Another partnership then developed and Bexleyheath were continuing to score at a fast rate. More clever bowling changes, however, brought a steady flow of wickets to stem the flow of runs, and Bexleyheath were struggling on 129-7. Russell, the number 8 batsman, then began to threaten and the score was mounting as Bexleyheath approached 150 with still plenty of overs remaining. Craig returned to the attack, and almost immediately bamboozled Russell, who mistimed a drive to sky the ball to the safe hands of Brupbacher. Craig polished off the tail and Bexleyheath were dismissed for 161 after only 34 overs. It was a superb all-round bowling and fielding performance by Park. Dave Brupbacher took 3 excellent catches, Bob was reliable as ever behind the stumps, and all the bowlers were threatening and, given an excellent batting strip and fast out-field, economical. The Bexleyheath total looked very gettable indeed.
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Partridge | 5 | 0 | 29 | 1 |
| Craig Partridge | 6.2 | 1 | 27 | 5 |
| Roger Weston | 5 | 0 | 19 | 1 |
| John Ling | 8 | 0 | 43 | 1 |
| Alan Russell | 6 | 1 | 25 | 1 |
| Dave Fletcher | 4 | 1 | 15 | 1 |
Alan Horton and Kenny Rowbotham started off the Park reply with some careful batting, against the two lively opening bowlers. Kenny, however, was soon out for 9, caught behind, a decision which the third umpire might have liked to review. Bru joined Alan and they were both looking very solid until Bru was LBW to the young spinner Smedley for 16. Soon after, Smedley picked up Alan's wicket as he mistimed a cover drive and Park were hovering on 51-3. By this time, Bob had entered the fray, and from the first ball looked like a man in form, despite his long absence from the crease. He was joined by Christian, and the left-hand /right-hand partnership began to get on top of the young Bexleyheath spinners. The Bexleyheath bowling was consistently threatening but, with the two Park batsmen keeping their heads and concentration ,victory was soon looking a distinct possibility. There was a minor scare when Christian was well caught at gully for a superb captain's knock of 57, which put Park on 148-4, still 14 runs short but with plenty of overs and batting to come. Bob and Craig managed to get the remaining runs without causing any undue anxiety, and a brilliant Park victory was sealed, the 162 runs being reached in only 30 overs.
An excellent all-round team performance, with every single player contributing with runs or wickets. Three contenders for the prized Gannon Award for Excellence. Craig for his brilliant bowling performance, 5 for 27 in 6 overs. Christian's inspired captaincy and another superb 50. Bob's solid wicket-keeping and a marvellously crafted innings of 40 not out. And the winner is..Well, Alan Russell goes for the sentimental vote, and awards the young Bob the prize, which hopefully will be a clean shirt, for him to wear for the rest of the games that the public are demanding he plays.