Match 2

As the early morning rain moved on it was a beautiful Saturday morning that saw match 2 of the U9s first season. The Gerrards Cross Tigers were ready early, in fact far earlier than we were! But come 9.30 we both had a team and were ready to rumble! Capt Henry lost the toss and we were put in to bat. Max B and Henry opened up, but it was Max who wielded the "hammer" this time hitting his first competitive boundary as the pair moved the score carefully to 209 after the first 4 overs. Rafi and Aron were in next, Rafi also hitting a good four and was unlucky with a couple of other shots, Aron ensuring no wickets went down - then calamity struck as we lost 2 wickets in the last over of the pair! However due to some slightly wide bowling the score had still moved on to 217. Aydin and Ewan in next, facing some good bowling the pair knocked some singles around but we lost 3 wickets in the 4 overs and went into over 13 on 220. Deelan (standing in for Thomas B who was running a rather annoying half term temperature!) hit a couple of lovely fours and top scored with 10. Ross B was with him and it must be said didnt get the majority of strike but was unfortunately out caught by the "champagne moment of the day" by a Tigers player - one handed diving to his right - pretty unlucky dismissal at this age! Harvey and Kingsley finished off the 20 overs with my highlight being a 6 from "Kingsley's club" from the last ball of the innings!

With 252 to defend we knew we had to bowl and field like demons! I looked at our fielding coach (who knew that we had awarded that title to Perry only 5 mins before?) and he gave me a nod of confidence.

Cricket is a strange game, it is a team game where individuals have the opportunity to impact a game more than other team sports. One of the Tigers' openers enjoyed himself in the 1st 4 overs, knocking a very good 17 so they were on 224 after 4 overs. But as always we fought back. A lot of tight bowling and the odd wicket we were holding them, 248 after 10 and it looked all over, but somehow after 15 they were 243, Henry swapping his "hammer" from batting to bowling and taking 2 wickets in one over. Aided by Barnaby they took 3 wickets in their 4 overs and it was game on!

In a true climax the last 4 overs had 2 accomplished batters facing some decent bowling from Harvey and Deelan, GX moved ahead but were pegged back by Deelan again taking a wicket. However the gap was too big and GX secured a good win ending on 269 to our 252.

Very enjoyable morning, took it to the last over. As always we are looking at areas we can improve. Our fielding and catching was pretty good, our batting we need to block the straight ones and whack the bad ones (which means we have to wait for them first!) and with bowling we need to keep it straight - we gave away 54 wides in our 20 overs! So lots to practice!

Many thanks to Kate & Frieda for supplying much needed half time snacks, the Ians for umpiring and Guy for scoring - appreciate it.

Enjoy the bank hols and half term

Martin