Under 11’s Match Report.
Compton Park – 14th May 2017
A sunny but windy day saw the arrival of West Haddon and Guilsborough (WH & G) to Compton Park. Anya won her 2nd toss in a row and invited WH & G to bat.
After last weeks fine spell of bowling Aidan Garratt opened the bowling to his name sake Thomas Garratt! There were actually 4 Garratt’s playing and at least 3 more more watching, although not all related, that’s far too many in 1 place! Aidan and Will bowled very well and the 1st pair recorded 13 off their 4 overs. Niamh and Anya took up the bowling mantle for the 2nd pair and struggle a little with the windy conditions and a few wides were bowled. They only gave away 5 off the bat but WH & G were 36 without loss after the 1st 8 overs. Archie and Mohit bowled to the 3rd pair and kept things tight with the 3rd pair putting on just 8 in their 4 overs. The highlight of the innings happened with Mohit’s 4th ball. A top edge from the batsman saw the ball loop up looking like it would bounce harmlessly just behind the stumps. However Mikey “Jack Russell” Smith bounded forward from his wicket keeping position and dived full length taking a great catch and his first behind the stumps for Cogenhoe. A standing ovation from the Compton Park Faithful greeted an excellent effort. The 4th pair were keep to just 6 runs following fine bowling performance from Prashil ,superbly supported from Aidan and Will’s 3rd overs of the game. The final score was 250 (net 245). Net 246 would usually be a big task for our batters.
After the break and a team talk about putting into practice the positive batting coaching from Tuesday night Prashil and Will set about getting us off to a strong start. They scored 8 off the bat playing positively and with the extras we were 19 for 1 (net 14) with Will caught playing positively which we don’t mind at all. Archie and Mikey were next to the crease with the same instructions. They struggled to connect fully with the straight ones and had a fair few wide ones to contend with. A mix up with the calling led to a run out for Mikey which was a unfortunate for us and him. At the end of their overs we were 34 for 2 (net 24) with the game in the balance. Mohit and Niamh came in next and this proved to be the pair that took the game away from WH & G. Despite chipping a delivery to mid off leading to a simple catch for WH & G’s impressive captain, Mohit then started to cut loose! He hit 3 fine boundaries and Niamh batted very well crossing the rope herself with a fine pull to the leg side. They batted just liked we asked and put on 23 from the bat ended their overs with the score at 71 for 3 (net 56) with a win on the cards, with Aidan and Anya still to come. Extras supported their partnership but both tried to play in the right way. Aidan was bowled by the Captain rounding of a fine morning for her. We finished on 295 for 4 (net 275) for a fine 30 run victory.
The biggest positive from the morning as a team was the improvement in positive batting. 39 runs from the bat was a big leap forward from last weeks 9. Well done team, enjoy your win.
Thank you to Charlie for umpiring, Jon for for his support with the coaching, me for scoring and the Compton Park faithful for bracing the wind and supporting the team.