Monday night’s objective for the U13s was to try and demonstrate improvement in all three phases of the game and secure a win against similar opposition in Old Wellingburians/Indians. The early start of 5.45pm to ensure the game would be finished before the England Euro16 game was added incentive.
Pre-match plans were thrown out of the window as both opening bowlers were unavailable, so the Bushell Brothers [Alex and James] were recalled to the side. For the first time this season skipper Alfie lost the toss and the Cooks were batting in this 16-over contest.
Regular openers Sam Tipler and Alfie Wreford were under instructions to get the team off to a good start and that they did, as we reached 21 at the end of the third over, until Sam was ‘beaten by the slope’. Alfie continued to bludgeon his way to a season high 33no from just 19 balls, including two massive 6s with his new bat. Having retired, the Cooks were 52-2 in the 7th over. A great captain’s innings from Alfie whose confidence grows and grows each week.
Unfortunately, some inauspicious shot selection, a comedic run out and good bowling contributed to stifle the run rate so that the boys went from 58-2 in the 9th over to 71-8 at the end of the allotted 16 overs. Perhaps they had been watching the 1st XI batting on Saturday was the suggestion!
Considering the rainfall, the pitch was behaving reasonably well and early wickets would be needed to give us a chance given our below-par score.
However, OWs opening pair ticked over very nicely and took the score up to 32 before Aidan Garratt struck with his first wicket in U13 cricket. A nice moment for Aidan as he is still only 8 yrs old, but has come on in leaps and bounds this year.
11 from 4.1 overs, with Alex snaring a couple of catches and Liam Morrissey another. However, the 12-15 runs that we were short of during our innings came back to haunt us, as the OWs No8 hit a couple of 4s and reached their target with 11 balls to spare.
This was a game that slipped away after a great start. Some really good individual performances from Alfie, Alex, Aidan and James but a greater collective is needed if we are to secure another win this season, especially with ONs B and Overstone on the horizon.
Thanks to Dave Patrick for umpiring and Ben for scoring as usual.