Season off to a great start!

We don't normally have to wait until mid-July to get a game under our belts, but the lack of cricket had in no way diminished the U10s eagerness to play cricket.
A friendly game put together at very short notice was definitely the best way to clear any rustiness away and get back into the swing of things, and it gave us a chance to get revenge over a Coleshill team that managed to beat the Smash side twice last season.
On a lovely sunny day, on a beautiful pitch ringed by a bumper crowd, Beaconsfield won the toss and elected to have a bowl.
Arthur and Josh took the (sanitised) new ball and got BCC off to the best possible start - Arthur only giving away a single and Josh taking a wicket with his 5th ball to put Coleshill under the cosh straight from the off. Some more tight and accurate bowling, with both Lewis (off his first ball of the season!) and Gordon getting among the wickets, meant that Coleshill could only make steady but unspectacular process. Arthur and Josh came back with a maiden each, while Armaan kept the pressure on the middle pair by giving little away, meaning that BCC were well on top at the half-way stage of the innings.
All the bowlers stuck to their task well, keeping extras to a minimum. Albert put together his most consistent spell in BCC colours and Finn delivered his usual good display of line & length. Ben couldn't quite reproduce his exciting pre-season nets form, but showed glimpses that he's certainly one to watch this season with the ball in hand.
The bowlers were backed up by some mightily impressive fielding; great covering in the deep and backing up of the throws, along with a run out and Angus holding on to a good catch. Even when Coleshill’s best batter found the odd boundary, the fielders stayed alert and positive, with no hands sneaking into pockets at all!
A wicket maiden from Gordon and an Armaan wicket with the final ball of the innings swung the match firmly in our favour, with Coleshill posting a good (but very gettable) total of 265, Beaconsfield taking 6 wickets in the process.
Confident that they could chase the total down, Armaan and Lewis got over the loss of an early wicket to sneak BCC’s noses in front of the required target. Arthur and Josh showed some fantastic running between the wickets to put together our most successful partnership of the match, sneaking quick singles to rotate the strike and even scrambling the only 3 of the whole game.
Angus kept the pressure on Coleshill, battering three 4s in his unbeaten innings of 14, while Albert showed gritty resilience to protect his wicket. Our big-hitting pair of Kaian (15) and Finn (6) delivered just as expected - Kaian even hitting 8 off one over - getting BCC to within touching distance of victory... despite losing a couple of wickets, maybe just to keep the spectators’ nerves on edge!
To deafening support from the sidelines, Ben and Gordon then saw BCC home with some sensible batting, Gordon blocking out the final over with an almost Boycott-esque technique to complete a well-deserved win by 10 runs.
Overall, a great win by the team who showed that they have lost none on their match skills during their prolonged absence from the cricket field. They really set a high standard for the whole squad to maintain in the weeks to come, and each player should be rightfully proud of their contribution to the result.
Man of the Match: Josh McGrath - an all round great performance with bat, ball and in the field.