At last a lovely sunny day to start off the under 11’s season, home against Rainham. Looking great in their new club shirts we lost the toss and were put into bat. The opening pair of Ali and Harry.B after a nervous start and 1 wicket down in their 4 over spell slowly got into their rhythm and ended up going for their shots and making a very important start to the HBBH innings. Ali also lived up to his ‘splits’ nickname by sliding in for a well earned single.

2nd pairing of Finley and Matthew made a steady start and quickly got into their running and had great communication between the two of them. Excellent batting from both of them and no holding back. Next to the middle were Jacob and Joseph, 2 very similar players who love going for their shots with no holding back. An excellent opening drive by Joseph for his 1st ever hard ball run. A few nervous swing and misses by both players but both of them stuck to their guns and in the 1st ball of the 4th over Jacob got his customary 4 with a fantastic straight drive back past the bowler that raced towards the boundary rope. Last pair in were Harry.L and Thomas. Facing 1st was Harry with a lovely opening single followed by a brilliant 1st 4 by Thomas which was the 1st of a few fours by him in a great confident innings by both players, mixed with a few ‘risky runs’ but overall great communication between the two of them and 37 runs on the board towards Holcombe’s total runs of 163.

Now for our turn to have a bowl. A great opening maiden over by Finley to settle any nerves he may have had but certainly didn’t show. Ali next to bowl and after a couple of wayward deliveries he settled into his groove and regained his accuracy.

Matthew was next up with a great 1st over which included an excellent 1st wicket of his hard ball season by taking out the middle stump.

Next to bowl was Thomas who bowled a lovely steady over for only the loss of 1 run.

Thomas’s younger brother Joseph was up next and after a no ball with his first delivery had a very steady over and settled his nerves very well.

Jacob was next in and much the same as Joseph a nervous 1st ball with a wide but after that he settled down for a steady over. Last up to bowl for the first round of overs was Harry.L and after a great first ball that nearly gave him his 1st wicket he had a bit of a mixed over with a few runs against.

Into the 2nd round of overs and Rainham seemed to be gaining in confidence and started to add to their run total but 2 excellent wickets by Ali and a second clean bowled wicket for Matthew put a halt to their run. More steady overs from Jacob and Joseph with the loss of only 1 run left Harry.L next up. 2nd ball the batsman nicked it behind and it was travelling but Finley made an excellent stop, turned and threw a direct hit at the stumps for a great run out. The next ball Harry L got his first wicket of the morning with a great full toss to finish off a great over.

Ali was chosen by the captain to bowl the penultimate over but with Rainham needing over 25 runs off the last 2 overs they had to go for it and Ali bowled a mixed over which left Finley with the responsibility of bowling the last over of the game. He kept his nerve and bowled a fantastic last over with just 1 wide and no runs against which meant we won the match by 163-145.

A special mention for a our wicket keeper Harry.B (Burchy) Bearing in mind this was his first match keeping against a hard ball and also facing our young bowlers who have all improved and got quicker he did a fantastic job for the team. Not only did he stop some very quick deliveries with his hands he also decided to stop one ball with his helmet visor and another very painful stop with his chest but he carried on regardless and put in a great performance for the team.

Overall it was a brilliant start to our under 11’s first ever hard ball season with our 1st win and hopefully many more to come.