A bright but somewhat fresh morning as the titans of U11 cricket met in this much anticipated home fixture. Cup winners versus league champions with the boys coming off the back of a superb victory against table topping Borstal in their last outing.

Finley opened the bowling on a hatrick ball having picked up back to back wickets with the final two balls of last week’s victory. Unfortunately he didn’t reach that milestone this time round but opened up with a steady first over with good line and length leading to a delivery hitting the wickets but regrettably failing to dislodge the bails. He opened his second over with a ‘loosener’ before closing with a fine delivery beating the batsman for pace and picking up a much deserved wicket.

Thomas’s two overs consisted of raw pace, a number of consistently straight and quick deliveries had the visiting batsman tied in knots and struggling to add to the run total. Thomas maintained his composure to put a couple of wayward deliveries behind him fishing his spell strongly.

Jacobs spell was nothing short of ‘top draw’. Pace, line and length gave the opposition batsman a torrid time limiting their run rate considerably. A top effort eclipsed only by his pending batting performance.

Matthews spell further cemented his superb performances this season with a continued display of quick and accurate bowling. Fast becoming a consistently solid all-rounder Matthews first over went for just one run, with his second almost as economical as the first.

Ali, much like Finley, started his over with a customary ‘loosener’ before some first class bowling that led to a well-deserved wicket, beating the batsman for pace! More raw pace, a slight adjustment to his radar, led to Ali finishing his spell strongly.

Fraser’s first over was arguably the most action packed of the day! A first ball wicket from a peach of a delivery backed up with more accurate bowling and a superb piece of fielding from Harry ‘Skip’ Lawes leading to a direct hit run out from deep in the field. Much of the same from Fraser in his second over: A great addition to the team!

The skipper opened with a couple of ‘looseners’ before 3 near unplayable deliveries all resulting in dot balls. A superb piece of fielding from Jacob stopped a boundary from the final ball. A fine ‘caught and bowled’ effort backed up by another 3 dot balls and the customary mid over donning of the shades finishing another fine bowling performance from the Captain.

Burchy was back behind the stumps for this fixture and quickly slipped straight back into his stride utilising his cat like reflexes throughout yet another consistently solid performance.

Finley and Matthew brought the bowling to a conclusion taking on the visiting sides’ best batsman. Un-fazed both displayed a number of fine deliveries as the batsman looked to take them both on and add to the run total. Both maintained their focus and bowling accuracy which made scoring runs very difficult for a very talented batsman. Great cricket all round with a final run total of 174 from the visitors.

Burchy and Ali opened the batting and what a fine job they both did. Burchy was off the mark quickly with a fine shot with Ali picking up a boundary with a lovely flick off the pads down the leg side from his first ball. Ali, now with the bit between is teeth, crashed another four down fine leg before hitting a superb drive back over the bowlers head falling one bounce short of his first six. Both batsman continued to score freely running well between the wickets. Only a fine catch from the visitors could salvage anything from a very dominant 24 run start to our innings

Next up was Finley and Jacob. A steady shot from Fin got him off the mark quickly, settled his nerves and brought Jacob on strike. Jacob got straight to business, his usual fearless brand of batting (Jazball) resulting in two thundering fours. Both ran well between the wickets playing good shots and keeping the run rate ticking over nicely. Another two boundaries from Jacob coupled with neither batsman losing their wicket propelled our run total to 155 at the half way mark.

Recognising that the home side were charging towards the run total the visitors brought on their main bowling attack to take on our next pair of Matthew and Fraser. A superb first ball wicket gave the visitors a much needed lift. Both batsman faced some very challenging deliveries and can be extremely proud of their superb defensive batting performance against frightening pace. Strong running between the wickets and some well-deserved boundaries without any further loss of wickets was truly a fine effort from both, sending the team towards victory.

Harry and Thomas were the final pair to the crease and quickly set about getting the home side over the line. Solid bowling led to a number of dot balls and the loss of a further wicket but this often called upon final pairing were more than up to the challenge with the skipper leading from the front with a series of fine fours complemented by some fine stroke play by Thomas and courageous running between the wickets leading to a very impressive final total of 207!

A great match and a fine victory against the strongest team in the league last season.