A FORTNIGHT back from their Devon tour, Kingswood were delighted to host two touring sides, Barford from Warwickshire and old rivals Pencombe from Herefordshire.

Weakened by calls from neighbouring league side Charfield and its own village tennis finals, Kingswood were wary of contesting Barford.

However, thanks to their youngsters, the game could scarcely have been closer.

Student brothers Callum (2-17) and Ollie (1-48) Niddrie with Ben (3-51) and Robbie (3-22) Foxwell kept Barford to 226 all out.

Ben Foxwell's 41, Rory Thomas' 31, Angus McCubbin's 26 and 15-year-old Callum Niddrie's 51 took Kingswood just 13 short of Barford's total.

In between batting and bowling, Callum and his mother, Helen, won the parent and child tennis final.

The following day's game against Pencombe was not quite so even, Kingswood being thrashed by 204 runs.

Pencombe's commanding 317-5 was built around the usual 50 from Owen Thomas and a majestic 182 not out from veteran Al Davies, helped by Kingswood dropping him five times.

Kingswood's batting was not as good as their bowling. Openers Kevin Morgan (27) and Ben Foxwell (25) gave hope.

From then on the innings was a steady procession with only 12-year-old Robbie Foxwell (14) reaching double figures in a total of 113.

Meanwhile, Hillesley have been crowned the 2014 Pratt Cup champions.