Produced by Cricket Statz - www.cricketstatz.com
Last updated 06-Aug-2007.
Match Report
Having had a disappointing start to our first season in the U15s A league in a while (we lost convincingly to Hambledon two weeks ago and last week was called off due to rain), this evening has provided us with our first win- a much needed confidence booster for all in the team. Having won the toss, I opted to bowl first on a very green, damp wicket and, sure enough, it kept very slow and low. Our two opening bowlers did not disappoint, with Luke Harrison unlucky to finish his 4 tidy overs wicketless. Tom Clark started our rush of wickets with two quick balls skidding through at the end of the second over. With the first ball of his next over, he got his hattrick with a ball that swung in the air and just skimmed leg stump. He deserved his figures of 3 wickets from 3 overs for just 2 runs. Our first change bowlers, Rob Carpenter and Martin Lander, then bowled well in tandem, putting pressure on the batsmen to score runs and they finished with 5 wickets between them in just 7 overs. Rob trapped his first victim LBW on a ball that kept very low right in front of middle stump and took another wicket when the batsman hit up ball in the air to Luke Harrison at mid-on. Martin then bowled 2 batsmen in 2 balls, including a very well taken caught and bowled- but a second hattrick of the night was not on the cards. An over later, with Rob Carpenter bowling, the batsman tried to take a quick 2 to a misfield by Josh McCarthy at third man. He recovered quicker than they anticipated though, and comfortably ran the batsmen out with an excellent direct throw. A couple of balls later, the next batsmen top edged a ball straight up in the air. Paul Millar took the catch moving quickly from square leg to position himself directly under the ball. This was Rob's third wicket of the night. We now needed only 1 wicket to bowl them out, but were frustrated by a good partnership as their tail wagged. Eventually, a bowling change bringing on Ben Robinson for Rob Carpenter did the trick. Ben achieved his first wicket (and the last we needed) within his first over- which was also coincidently the first over he had ever bowled leg-spin in a game before, having previously bowled seam. He spun all the balls he bowled, and his wicket came from a top edge which was caught comfortably at mid-wicket by Toby Mitcheson. We needed only 47 runs to win- a seemingly gettable target. However, our innings did not get off to the start we needed, with Hannah Clark getting out LBW for a second ball duck. Paul Millar put on a very quick partnership with Alex Clarke, before being bowled. Alex Clarke followed shortly in similar fashion. A couple of balls later, Harriet Ruff was dismissed absolutely identically to the wicket of Hannah. We were now 4 wickets down, and still needing about 25 to win. Tom Clark now arrived at the crease, batting with Toby Mitcheson. They put on another good, much needed partnership which helped to settle a few nerves. However, Toby was then bowled at a time when the game was starting to look ours again. Ben Robinson batted well and hit two lovely 4s, including one lovely cover drive out of the middle of the bat. With only about 6 needed to win, Ben was bowled trying to hit a match winning shot. Josh McCarthy then helped Tom see us home. Tom top scored and finished on 11 not out, and Josh was 1 not out. We finished the game thoroughly deserving the win, despite our shaky batting performance. But hopefully this will improve over time with the aid of nets. It was very encouraging to see everyone contribute so much to our win, and it was excellent to see our team spirit at such a high despite our loss two weeks previous. Hopefully we can take alot from this win and use it to build on for the rest of the season. Well done everyone!
