The fast draining outfield at the glorious Horsmonden CC meant that the U9s Super 8s qualifying round 1 took place in surprising sunshine this afternoon after a miserable morning of persistent rain.
The opening match of today's league was the big one, with the mighty Marden taking on our very own Castle Hill A team. This clash of the titans proved to be a bruising encounter for our boys.
The Marden bowlers came out of the blocks at pace - skidding the ball down the still damp wicket with precision and guile. Their rapid attack caused our slightly sluggish batters a good deal of trouble as the ball regularly found the gap between bat and leg repeatedly knocking over the plastic wickets.
Unfortunately, the CHCC bowlers did not manage to hit the same disciplined line and length as Marden had achieved and so in spite of sharp, effectively frugal fielding, the CHCC boys went down in a close match. Indeed, the CHCC five lost wickets proving the difference between the teams.
From this game on the CHCC A team raised their spirits and performance levels winning all three of their remaining matches. Angus Hall was ferocious with mighty swings of his bat; Robert Vizard bowled with pace and bounce from a new angled run up, whilst Harry Leach batted aggressively and took some exceptional reflex catches behind the stumps. A special shout out to Henry Parton for some remarkable play - as usual he batted well and bowled sharply; stand out today was his fielding - specifically a famous one handed caught and bowled plus a remarkable stretching diving catch both of which brought gasps from the crowd.
Well done to the full team of Angus Hall, Henry Parton, Harry Leach, Robert Vizard, Tom Hobbs, Aston Burford, Rafe Rayment and Archie Steddon.
Meantime the CHCC B team was competing hard in their own matches and came away from the day with a creditable won 2 lost 2 score line from their four matches. After a difficult time against Marden and CHCC A team, the boys set about taking the other two (Horsmonden) teams apart. The Horsmonden B team were comfortably dispatched; the highlight of the team's day was a tense 4 run win over their A team in a tight encounter. The star of the show was Oscar Anderson taking a wicket in the final over to seal the win.
Debutant Noah Flanagan skippered the team positively in his two games as leader, as did Robert Henderson-Pratt and Ben Anderson in their games. The energy, commitment and determination of Elliot Freeborough was notable, even being commented on by opposition coaches who were impressed by Elliot's huge desire to win and his super all round skills. Ben Anderson batted and bowled well too and he was stellar in the field taking a blinding catch of a baamethyst came at him like a tracer bullet. Meantime Oscar Anderson continues to impress with a finely developing talent as a slow bowler. Other highlights were Robert Henderson-Pratt's impressive catch of a skier in the deep and Noah Flanagan taking 2 wickets off consecutive balls against the mighty Marden.
Well done to all the team of Elliot Freeborough, Ben Perry, Ben Anderson, Oscar Anderson, Robert Henderson Pratt, William McCarthy, Noah Flanagan, Callum Cox and Alex Alfageme.
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