A Perfect August Continues.

In the 10 matches to this point of the season, the U10 Lightning team had only tasted defeat twice; once against Great Missenden, who were duly repaid with a return victory, and a narrow defeat to a very good Gerrards Cross side. The boys (and coaches) were therefore primed and ready for the opportunity to settle the score, with the short trip to our neighbours - a very short trip for some, meaning local bragging rights were very much at stake!
Having lost the toss and been put into bat, James and Zac faced up to - and handled very well - some very strong opening bowling. It was, however, some incredible fielding that put BCC under immediate pressure; two direct hits while trying to snatch quick singles keeping the score low, despite a couple of 2s from James and a boundary from Zac.
Lewis and Tom were next in, needing to push the score on. Lewis defended resolutely, despite just returning from a 4 week absence, and Tom acted as the perfect foil the other end, hitting the bad balls to push the total up to 225.
Finn and Armaan had maybe not been paying full attention to the previous 8 overs of exemplary fielding, by attempting a risky run off their very first ball, thus seeing Finn fall short of his ground. Just 3 balls later, Armaan skied a catch, and when Finn fell again, the boys were suddenly in a bit of trouble... Luckily, Armaan decided to counter attack with some power hitting, and aided by some great calling and now much more sensible run-pinching from Finn, by the end of the 12th BCC found themselves on 236 - a good score considering the quality of the fielding and bowling, but not looking quite competitive enough at that stage.
A lot rested on the shoulders of the final pairing of Josh and Gordon, but the 13th over was to change the whole complexion of the game. After taking just one ball to get his eye in, Josh unleashed what all witnesses agreed was one of the most stylish and destructive innings seen from this age group. Hitting to all parts of the ground - a delicious cover drive on the up, and a lofted straight drive the particular highlights - Josh took the bowling attack apart. Gordon was happy to play second fiddle, rotating the strike to get Josh back on strike when needed. The onslaught continued, a shell-shocked GX seeing their position of strength at 236 after 12 overs melt away to become 281 after the final ball of the 16th. A wicket-less partnership of 45, thanks to Josh's magnificent 35 off 19, meant that BCC were not just back in the game, but favourites at the half way stage.
Not content merely to have taken the game away from GX with his bat, Josh then used his off-spin to good effect to skittle the opener in the first over. Learning from the quality of GX's fielding, a run out of their own kept the batting side further in check. Zac and Finn backed up the good start - some tremendously accurate bowling giving them a wicket each, including a caught and bowled by Zac.
After 8 overs, GX's 226 was comparable to BCC's 225 at the same stage; needing some fireworks, GX put in their best two batsmen to try to keep them in contention. Tom was having none of it - bowling the opposition's star county player middle stump, first ball. He then went on to prove this was no fluke, removing the same player's leg stump 4 balls later with a near-perfect in-swinger. Gordon upped his pace and aggression, and despite being taken for a few runs, got a deserved wicket with his final ball - an edge behind being snaffled by the gloves of none other than Josh.
At the 12 over mark, scores were still comparable - GX 238 to BCC's 236 - so it would take a repeat of Josh's heroics to snatch victory.
Armaan bowled really well against some classy batsmen, and the field were happy to protect the boundaries and allow the singles. It left James to bowl out the final over with his usual calm, accurate and metronomic style, sealing victory by a whopping 25 runs. It also meant that he could hold his head up high around Gerrards Cross for the whole winter...
Not a difficult choice for man of the match, but that performance couldn't have won the game alone - it was backed up by strong games from the whole of the rest of the team. An obvious sign of this was just 3 wides conceded in the whole 16 overs - a remarkable statistic, given where we were at the start of the season. Some very proud coaches after the game!
Man of the Match: Josh Tiwana - let's face it, umpiring was about the only thing he wasn't involved in during the match!