Summer arrived at Compton Park as the coats, scarves and hats were replaced by shorts and tee-shirts as the Cook’s U13s welcomed Horton House for the latest fixture.
A late withdrawal saw a club debut for Thomas ‘Geoff’ Redmond, a popular addition for the Year 5 Cogenhoe lads.
Skipper Jake lost the toss for the first time in many a moon and Horton chose to bat first. Probably a wise decision if we wanted to see the game extend beyond the 90-minute mark, given our recent batting difficulties.
The opening bowling was good, Prashil and Jake followed by Aidan and George kept the opening batsman honest and the scoring rate was relatively low. A good lesson for our batsman was the Horton opener who took his time until he felt comfortable and then scored a bit quicker when he had confidence in the bounce and wicket, reaching 18 from 44 balls.
Wickets for George and Jacob only brought in more aggressive batsman who began to up the rate, and with 21 extras plus 2 over-throws, the further wickets for Jake, Mohit and an excellent run-out by Mikey Smith saw Horton reach 103-5 from their 20 overs.
This was not disastrous and is about par compared to other games this season, although there was a sense that we weren’t as ‘on our game’ in the field as we had been so far this season and the score felt 20 or so more than we probably should have conceded.
George and Jacob were given their third consecutive opportunity to open the innings, with the need for a positive start paramount. To be fair, both attacked and defended to the right balls and got off the mark with excellent shots. Both played good shots directly to the fielders and it took the unusual circumstance of a catch at slip to dismiss Jacob.
Jake and George played with intent to keep the scoreboard ticking over, until a moment’s hesitation backing up saw George run out with a direct hit from Fine Leg. A seasoned observer in the crowd described it as a real ‘after you Claude moment’!
Anya went in and played with confidence, with her and Jake both running well and more importantly, communicating well. A really positive display from the pair. Jake batted sensibly and managed to hit his first career ‘6’ over square leg in a top score of 18, but when he was given out LBW by Charlie, the score of 103 looked a long way off.
The Cogenhoe middle order collapse, reminiscent of 1990’s England sides facing Walsh and Ambrose [look them up kids!] again repeated, including another horrendous run-out. The last bright spot being ‘Geoff’ striding out to bat and returning not out 0, as we ended up 46-9 from our 20 overs.
Being realistic, it is unfair to put out such a comparatively young side in U13s cricket, given the majority of sides are made up of 12 & 13 year olds, and we have one genuine U13-aged player and include up to seven 10 year olds. The boys and girls give it their all, but there is a massive gap in size and strength, as well as confidence which is significant as we hit the U13 age group.
I’ll consider whether we should play the fixtures against the very strong ON’s, Saints and Overstone teams and will happily take advisement from parents. Please let me know your thoughts.
Thanks to Charlie for umpiring and Ben for scoring and all of the fantastic support from parents.
No fixtures next weekend due to the Bank Holiday.