Warm weather, blue skies, a splendid pitch and a cracking game…
The U11 Championship squad begun against a very strong and well drilled Tunbridge Wells U12 Girls team, which included several district and one county player.
Match Summary:
CHCC batted first and straight away we could see it was going to be hard work, immaculate line and length from their opening bowlers made scoring hard and unfortunately we also had a run out early on (unlucky Ben P). However, the boys weathered the storm and protected their wickets, Harry also chipping in with some useful boundaries, which would prove valuable later on.
Having rotated batsmen and seen the need to pick up the run rate we were then treated to the JJ Jackson leg side extravaganza as he dispatched three deliveries for 4’s before being bowled by an excellent delivery. Elliot then came in and hit 22 very quickly (including a huge 6) which helped keep the scoring rate up before being caught by the opposition captain. Useful runs then came from Ryan and Oscar before a few late wickets brought back our earlier retired batsmen. In the final few overs, assisted by some loose bowling (at last), Harry with a huge 6 (finishing on 24), and Ollie with two cracking 4s came back on to help us post a target of 110 for victory.
It was clear that there was some rustiness in the CHCC bowling and their openers exploited anything short or wide with ruthless efficiency. Credit to our boys that their second overs were generally a lot better which bodes well for the season. The openers retired with half of the required runs scored after only 7 overs bowled of a possible 16. Then came the CHCC recovery, Elliot took 3 quick wickets and then Lucas chipped in with one along with a run-out, suddenly Tunbridge Wells needed 17 from the Last two overs…
Unfortunately the boys were not able to hold on, some good hits, great running between the wickets by the girls and a few missed opportunities in the field meant that Tunbridge Wells won on the last ball of the game, despite an excellent last over from Ollie.
Result – Tunbridge Wells Girls U12 beat Castle Hill by 1 run
All can be proud of a superb first effort, Callum who was keeping wicket for the first time did a great job behind the stumps in difficult conditions, the enthusiasm could not be questioned and the competitive spirit was definitely there.
Plenty of positives and I am confident we will learn from this and move forward as a stronger squad.
Looking forward to the next one!!
