John Daniels reports from Bexley Cricket Club

Sunday 19th June saw the launch of the Bexley Bees, the new women’s section of Bexley Cricket Club. The Bees – comprising of Bexley CC girls aged between 13 and 17, plus a couple of more experienced players from Catford Wanderers – took on the Bexley Churches XI, made up of male and female players from St John’s and St Mary’s Churches in Bexley Village, in a 24-overs-a side-game.

(Photo credit: Andy Clay)

Batting first the Churches attained 158-7 and in reply The Bees made a fight of it but came up a little short to end up on 132-8. Both teams batted out their full allocation of overs.

Bexley CC supported the day well. A good crowd attended and the bar was open along with the BBQ and a tasty cake table. The fixture, organised by Andrew Hill (one of the Bexley CC girls managers) was a resounding success.

While Bexley has a thriving girls cricket set-up, a full adult section is a new venture for the club, and has been launched because it became apparent that some of the older girls were not able to get any girls colts club cricket once they reached the age of around 14. Bexley did not want to lose these girls from the game and decided they needed to do something to keep them playing and enable them to keep up their membership at the club.

(Photo credit: Andy Clay)

While the intention is for the Bees to eventually enter the Women’s Cricket Southern League, they will mainly play friendly matches for the time being until such time that the squad is big enough to take on a league commitment. It is hoped that the side will get a couple more fixtures in during the summer and perhaps some indoor games in the coming winter.

For Bexley women’s cricket, it seems, the future is bright.