After a run of home games, and a couple of iffy performances, it was nice to get back on the road to face a young Ballinger side.
Beaconsfield lined up with a couple of young guns themselves, in the form of Tom and Harry pinched from the U9s, making their hardball debuts.
Losing the toss (predictably), BCC were put in. Armaan and Spencer set a solid base with a partnership of 16, featuring some lusty blows from Armaan, and quick running from Spence. Albert and Arthur came in to continue the great start - Albert dispatching his second ball to the backward point boundary with an expressive pull shot, while Arthur was nurdling and scampering around at the other end.
Just as things were looking incredibly easy, disaster struck in the 7th over, with both batsmen being bowled in successive balls. Despite just about seeing off the hat-trick ball, a further wicket was to fall as Arthur wandered out of his crease only to get run out, leaving BCC in a bit of bother at 215 after 8.
Harry and Tom, however, belied their years and apparent inexperience with some majestic strokeplay and fantastic running - good rotation of the strike (and a particularly glorious cover drive from Harry) put the boys back on course - setting up the final 2 pairs to push on to a big total.
And that they certainly did!
Firstly, Tom Mc and Gordon put on an unbeaten stand of 41, including 4 boundaries, then Curran and Josh finished off with their usual crash/bang/wallop approach to end the innings on 302. Some of Curran's calling could probably have been heard back at Wilton Park!
A remarkable 76 runs put on in just the last 8 overs, with not a single wicket going down.
A mighty total to defend, but some swagger and verbals from the oppo seemed to suggest they had some confidence in chasing it down...
Josh set the tone for the reply, however, with a wicket with just his 4th ball, backed up nicely by Harry conceding just 9 runs off his spell.
Albert and Arthur were matched to 2 decent looking batters, but some really energetic fielding kept them to just a handful of singles; however, after 9 overs gone, Ballingers were actually ahead in comparison to where BCC were...
But what followed was one of the most memorable spells of bowling this team has seen. Armaan - who just an hour or so before had declared he was going to become a spinner - actually heeded the coaches' advice to not be so utterly daft, and ripped through the Ballinger defences at will, picking up 5 wickets for just 7 runs in his 2 overs. A spot-on line and length, delivered at gun pace, left the oppo on 224 after 12 and needing a miracle.
Which never came. Tom H again showed that there is quite some talent coming through in the U9s with a really classy couple of overs; Gordon also carried on his good bowling form this season with a spell of 2 maidens and a wicket to his name.
With the light fading, and Ballinger still on only 228, Curran's leg spin wizardry bagged himself a wicket thanks to an amazing catch by Tom McD on the boundary at Cow Corner. Tom then deservedly got himself a wicket in the final over to cap a fine personal performance - 18 runs, a wicket and a stunning catch, that in normal situations would be a shoe-in for Man of the Match.
Ballinger limped home to 226, having lost 9 wickets, leaving BCC celebrating another magnificent victory in the gloom.
Man of the Match - Armaan Bagar, for his unbelievable 5-fer!