Beaconsfield U9 vs U8

On a slightly chilly Friday night our U8 team took on the U9s in a friendly match at BCC.

The U9 captain, Alex, won the toss and decided to field. Our opening pair of Deelan and Tom approached the innings cautiously, with some slightly nervy calling but once they had calmed down played some nice shots. After their 4 overs they had moved the score along to 206.
Ben and Max then came in. Ben was bamboozled initially by the U9 bowler who was “giving it some air” but finally caught hold of him for an enormous six over the road. Max moved his feet well and was unlucky to find the fielders with his shots. A couple of lost wickets though meant the score after this pair was 203. We were scoring but the U9s were holding their catches!
In came Ariyan and Edward, both playing expansive shots and Ariyan unlucky to be caught off a couple of lovely drives. The runs came but so did the wickets, meaning after 12 overs we were on 201.
In came Archie and Kingsley. The only pair not to lose a wicket they played nicely, took the runs on offer and moved the score on to 216 at which point it was time for our final pair, Harvey and Oliver. We probably left a couple of runs out there by not calling loudly / quickly enough but they did a great job of moving the score along again until we lost a wicket in the final over to give us a final score after our 20 overs of 219.

We actually scored 73 runs, 34 extras and 39 from the bat, but we lost 9 wickets thanks in the main to some great catching by the U9s, will the old saying “catches win matches” prove to be right??

After a quick break the U9s began their response. We knew we would have to take wickets and had to wait until the 4th over when Tom found a straight one to bowl him out. Deelan was charging in from the other end and sending down some rockets but couldn’t quite get the wicket he deserved. They were on 211 already, for us to win we needed to peg them back. Every wicket costs the batting side 6 runs so this was the only way we were going to win.
Ben and Max bowled the next 4 overs. Ben was taken for a sweet 4 in his first over, but came back strongly with a caught and bowled and then a bowled in his 2nd. Max ensured there was pressure from both ends and took 2 wickets as well. The U9s were rocking at 202 after 8 overs – 1 run behind were we had been at the same time!
Archie and Kingsley were up next, Archie bowling some lovely left arm over was unlucky not to get more than his 1 wicket, Kingsley found his range and kept the scoring down as well. After 12 overs they were on 209 and had gone ahead of the run rate.
Harvey and Oliver were our 4th bowling pair, they did a great job, with Harvey looking to spin them out of the game, and Oliver keeping it tight with great accuracy. However Jake (U9) batted really well and scored a number of 4s that moved them ahead. With the last pair coming in the U9s were on 227, all they needed to do was not lose a wicket (or 2).
Ariyan and Ed bowled a really tight last 4 overs, but the batsmen knew that if they didn’t make any mistakes they would win. They played out the last 4 overs moving the score to 232, and despite Ariyan shaving the wicket in the last over no wickets were taken.

In the end a 13 run win for the U9s. We bowled fewer wides than them, we scored more runs off the bat than them, but we only took 6 wickets, they took 9. We will continue to work on our catching!

A fun evening, all the boys enjoyed it and we have agreed to a rematch in early July so look out for that!