N.E.K.S.C.A. Six-a-Side Tournament

Date: Thursday 19 June 2008

A complicated title for a simple event! Every June, King's School hosts the regional Under 14 6-a-side cricket competition in which twelve local schools vie for the title of district champions and take home the Stephen Berry Memorial Trophy.

The morning sees a set of 'pool matches' in which four groups of three schools produce winners, runners-up, and third placers to go into the knock-out - 'play off' - matches in the afternoon. In short, each school plays four matches in the course of the day, 8 overs a side, 6 players a side.

SES got off to a great start, running up 98 - 1 against Abbey School, and restricting them to 87 - 1, and so winning by just 11 runs. Lewis Piper struck 53*, and Dom Barrett conceded only 13 runs in his allotted 2 overs. Herne Bay High School then thrashed us: they amassed 117 - 3 (nearly 15 an over!), and we struggled to 58 all out. This loss by 59 runs consigned us to the play-offs for 5th to 8th place.

In the first match of the afternoon session we beat Canterbury High by 30 runs. SES only managed 65 - 3 (Piper 27*), but with Naseem taking 3 - 3, Canterbury collapsed to 35 all out. We then played Chaucer Technology School for fifth place, but lost by 25 runs, as we failed to chase a target of 77 to win. We were all out with three overs to spare.

So 6th place was the end product to a very enjoyable day. Six-a-side is real fun - every player is always in the game - but tidy bowling and decent fielding are never enough. A couple of powerful dominating batsmen can chase down - or set - any reasonable target, and are integral to success in this form of cricket.

The winners? The hosts, King's School, who beat Simon Langton GS in the final.