Schools match of the week: Bedford School v Tonbridge School

The two-day match between Bedford and Tonbridge ended in a draw as time ran out to find a winner

The batters were the winners as Bedford and Tonbridge could not be separated in this two-day match.

Batting first, Tonbridge piled on the runs with Ben Robinson (53) and Marc Purves (68) scoring half-centuries.

The star turn was Harry Bevan-Thomas at no.5, who smashed 103 off just 117 balls to help his team declare seven wickets down on 336.

With the ball, Bedford's Rahul Sheemar took 4 for 86. There were also a couple of wickets for Alex Rennie and one for Sami Younis.

In response, Bedford also excelled with the bat. Half-centuries from Harry Gouldstone (61), Michael Catt (91) and Tom O'Toole (68 not out) brought the hosts back into the match. They declared on 290 for six.

Fred Geffen matched Sheemar in the wickets column with 4 for 113. Ed Surguy and Julian O'Riordan also shared a wicket a piece.

In the second innings, Rennie built on his two wickets in the first as he claimed 4 for 61. He is now on the verge of becoming the all-time leading wicket taker for Bedford's first XI.

Despite Rennie's performance, Bedford were unable to bowl Tonbridge out. Ed Owen-Browne, who scored 21 in the first-innings, smashed a quick-fire 42 off 43 to allow a declaration and a possible result.

However, Bedford remained resilient. Bevan-Thomas and Geffen did claim a couple of wickets each, but there just wasn't enough time and the match finished in a draw.

Speaking to The Cricketer, Gary Steer, the Director of Cricket at Bedford, highlighted the importance of the pitch.

"The wicket did spin, but it was a fairly good batting track," says Steer. "The outfield was very, very quick.

"It wasn't easy to try and get ten wickets and get that win in just two days. It was perfectly set up for a three-day game in many ways – if there had been another day, we'd have probably got a result.

"Most of our bowling was done by spinners – in fact, most of the match was bowled with spinners because the ball did turn."

Although it ended in a draw, Steer was still happy with the match as it allowed his cricketers to benefit from playing the longer form of the game.

"Because it's a different format, away from 50-over cricket, it gives spinners and opportunity to bowl for longer periods of time," explains Steer. "It also gives seamers the opportunity to have two, three, four spells in the day, and it gives batters the opportunity to bat for long periods of time and build an innings.

"So for us, it's a really great way to develop all-round technique. It's different in the longer format as supposed to scoring a quick 40 or 50, or just to bowl tight in one-day cricket; we're actually asking bowlers to get out there and bowl attacking and try and get wickets.

"I think it's a bigger test for captains as well, who have to try and find a way to get people out, rather than just bowl tight overs. They have to think about their field pretty much every over as to how they are going to get the batsman out."

Bedford will now be looking to win the rest of their games as they have been knocked out of the HMC National Schools T20. Tonbridge have qualified for the regional final of the tournament, and they will face St John’s School for a place at finals day.

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