WON BY 84 RUNS
The B.B. came out victorious in a gripping match at sunny Torry Hill on 31 May 2026.
After winning the toss, skipper M. Simpson elected to bat first under the warm Kentish sun and the B.B started strongly with candidate F. Mundel and W. Pollington keeping the scoreboard ticking nicely in the first few overs. After W. Pollington was dismissed, guest O Corbally Stourton batted superbly on what was a tricky deck and guided the B.B innings, deservedly arriving at his 100 after lunch. The Royal Engineers’ bowling attack were accurate and disciplined, making the most of the surface and restricting the B.B middle order with a declaration eventually coming at 233/6.
The B.B knew that a fine bowling performance would be needed to win the match with the time remaining and this was exactly the start produced by the fearsome pace duo of H. Elliot and H. Bee. H. Elliot took no time at all to get into his rhythm, with the first ball of his spell (and first match since last summer) whistling past the Batman’s shoulder and over the keeper. What followed is the quickest bit of bowling many had ever seen at Torry Hill and with the imperious line and length of H.Bee at the other end the Engineers found themselves at 55/5 after 12 overs. Bowling changes followed and the Royal Engineers middle order dug in well and a draw looked destined to be the result until F. Russell-Jones started producing hooping inswing and struck twice to give the B.B hope of victory again.
Skipper Simpson’s pivot to spin to pick up the final few wickets did not exactly go to plan and the Engineers’ counter-attacked well. With 6 overs remaining in the day, the ball was thrown back to H. Elliot who unleashed another spell of pure pace and accuracy to close out the game as the sun set on Torry Hill. The Engineers were bowled out for 149 and H. Elliot finished with figures of 14-4.
It was another great day of cricket at Torry Hill and a competitive match played in great spirit – thank you to the Royal Engineers for making it so.