Sunday 10th May 2015
The U11s first league fixture of the season took them to Guilsborough CC to play West Haddon & Guilsborough U11s. Two new faces were making their U11 debuts, having played U9 cricket for the club, Aidan Garratt and Keelan Hone. Having lost the toss, the Cooks were put into bat on a decent artificial surface on a warm, sunny morning. Opening pair of Keelan Hone and Liam Morrissey batted sensibly and got the team off to a good start, with some nice shots and running between the wickets. Unfortunately, Liam was bowled in the last over for a loss of 5 runs. The next pair in were the renowned barnacles, George Thompson and Hrishi Dave. Although no runs were added from the bat, the score ticked over with the odd wide and importantly, neither player was dismissed, something the coaches have been stressing to the boys. Third in were Spencer Smith and Alex Price. Again, some nice shots from both players, with a lovely pulled 4 from Spencer the highlight; however the feeling in the crowd was growing that too many runs were lost by not calling or running straight away, by all three pairs. Last pair in were Aidan Garratt and Jake Morrissey, who needed to score at least a run a ball, to give the team a defendable score. Although they didn’t quite do that, Aidan scored his first runs in ‘hard-ball cricket’ and Jake hit some nice leg side shots, including a hooked 4. The innings saw the Cooks score a modest, but technically good, net 35 [40 for 1 gross]. A mid innings gee-up saw the lads return to the field full of confidence that they could still win, if they could take five or six wickets and keep the extras to a minimum. Unfortunately, they could only muster three wickets [one each for Garratt, Price and J Morrissey], all three caught by skipper Jake. It was pleasing to see all the boys demonstrate improvement in their bowling. Once again, the team took more wickets than their opposition, and for the first time in over a season, closely matched them for the number of wides bowled. However, the key difference today was the bigger players of WHGCC managed to score 41 runs off the bat, compared to the Cooks 18, with the margin of defeat being 21 runs [net 56, gross 71 for 3]. The boys concentrated well in the field, and it was great to see them praising each other and showing confidence [Hrishi’s quote “Let’s send his bails to Wales!”]. It was a really positive performance from the boys, one to build on this season, as I am sure a win is around the corner. If they can keep reducing the wides and be a little more positive with their batting, it can’t be long in coming. Once again, thanks to Sid for scoring, Allan for umpiring and the parents for getting the boys to Guilsborough on time. See you all at Brixworth next Sunday, all support welcome