Buckinghamshire Cricket Board under 10 Final : Beaconsfield A (305-3) beat Chesham A (275-9) by 30 runs.

A large and enthusiastic crowd gathered to watch the season's climax as Beaconsfield, victorious in all 7 league games plus their semi against Cublington en route to the county final, made it a maximum 9 wins out of 9 as they outmanoeuvred Chesham in a thrilling title decider.

Skipper James Marsh won the toss and elected to bat on a even-paced pitch and quick outfield. Beaconsfield then produced arguably their best batting performance of the season against a fast and accurate Chesham bowling attack. All 5 partnerships yielded meaningful totals through intelligent batting - with respect shown to the good balls and appropriate punishment administered to the bad ones. Only 3 wickets were lost for 305 as all 10 batsmen made significant contributions, with Edward Hilditch top scoring with a fluent 18.

After the interval, Beaconsfield took the field with a spring in their step, knowing from experience that any total over 300 on this ground would represent a challenging run chase.....and so it proved.

The tone of the innings was set by a devastating opening spell of hostile pace bowling from Matthew Healy. His 3 early wickets ensured that Chesham never injected any real momentum into their innings, and subsequently struggled to match the required run rate. Whilst Beaconsfield never scaled the heights of previous bowling performances this season, wickets fell regularly, with Jack Mercer pouching two high quality catches as Chesham began to take risks in pursuit of boundaries.

The eventual winning margin was 30 runs - the narrowest victory of the season for a team which dominated opponents from the first game to the last of a memorable campaign. Beaconsfield u10's performances during the season were so consistent that they finished the season boasting the highest net run rate (NRR) of any club, in any league, at any age group, in the county.

All 13 squad members made telling contributions during the course of the 9 match run to the final, with superb individual performances spread across all of the matches. The skill, enthusiasm and cameraderie displayed by the team was frequently commented upon by opposing coaches and spectators, and the players deserved every last drop of applause from a large crowd as Marsh held the county championship trophy aloft.

Team : Dhillon, Healy, Hilditch, Ing, Mercer, Marsh, Randev, Rodgers, Slater, Ul-Ghani, sub Bose-Mandal.

Match report by Jim Slater