BCC U10 Strikers vs Knotty Green CC U10

On a warm, sunny evening, Beaconsfield CC U10 Strikers had their first home match of the season. Feeling confident after only losing to GX in the final over of their first game, they were eager to play. Parent supporters were enjoying the sunshine and helping get the team match ready, Dan Stalder had kindly volunteered to umpire, Jo Evans had provided match tea, and I even briefly had some assistance with the scoring – all set for a calm and relaxing evening.

Tom S was captain, and as Knotty Green were still waiting for a player to arrive, he agreed to let them bat first. There were some doubts voiced about bowling ability (Rory) and the team were reminded to avoid overthrows, as somehow these find the boundary far more often than shots off the bat do, and the Strikers took to the field. Bizarrely, given we have a squad of 36, we only had 6 players available to play for the Strikers this evening, so we had to draft in an eager volunteer from the U9s, and a rather more reluctant older sister to get us up to eight.

Tom decided to bowl in pairs, so first pair up were Ethan and Tayte. Ethan’s first over got a bit of tap, but he came back in his second to bowl both batters out. Great accurate bowling. Tayte also waited for his second over to cause havoc, with the befuddled batter hitting their own stumps on his first ball, and the next ball clean bowling the other batter. After 4 overs, we had some happy bowlers and Knotty Green were 199 – 4. Next pair of bowlers were Thomas P and Rory. Thomas was economical, going for only 5 runs off his two overs, and getting a wicket in the second. Rory, who was confident that his bowling would be awful, used the first over to warm up before clean bowling both batters with consecutive balls! So, 8 overs in, 3 bowlers had got ‘2-fers’ and Knotty Green were 197-7.

Matilda and Harry were next to bowl, Matilda struggling rather with a shorter crease than she was accustomed to, just about left the batters with their heads intact, but was more expensive than she had hoped. Harry got hit rather hard in his first over, but bowled a better line in the second to limit the scoring opportunities. However, without wickets the score had climbed to 232-7 with 4 overs to go. Josh and Tom took the tricky final overs. Both bowled beautifully, going for 3 runs across their overs and each taking a wicket in their first over. After 16 overs Knotty Green were on 227-9 and the team felt like this was a total they could chase.

A brief break for a chat about batting tactics, and to make the most of the brilliant match tea kindly provided by Jo Evans. Table emptied, the first pair went out to bat, whilst the rest of the team headed to the nets for some batting practice. Ethan and Tayte were practicing their expansive shots at the crease while Knotty Green set their field. Unfortunately the bowling was rather good so the flamboyant shots were sensibly put aside while the boys did their best defensive strokes. A swing of the bat from Tayte was beautifully caught in the second over, so the boys saw out the rest of their overs running singles and defending. The score of 205-1 not really reflecting the huge efforts they had made to see off the tough bowling. Next in were Josh and Matilda. Determined running, some beautiful 4s and leaving the wides meant they left the crease on 240-1. The Strikers started to sniff a win, but were reminded by the manager that in Barrington the score can go down as well as up, so to stay focused.

Thomas P and Rory went in next, Thomas planning to hit some big shots, Rory determined not to get out. They faced a lot of wides, making it hard to rotate the strike and providing few opportunities for Thomas to swing his bat. Rory dug in and defended, and Thomas, with very little of the strike, was unlucky to be bowled by a rare ‘on the stumps’ ball, but they still added 10 to the total. Strikers were 250-2 after 12 overs. Last pair, Tom S and Harry E walked to the crease aiming to have fun and play some shots, rather than just block through the remaining overs (contrary to Harry’s dad’s advice!) They ran well, defended when they needed to, and both managed some beautiful shots (almost) to the boundary. Strikers finished on a comfortable 266-2, winning by 39 runs.

A great first home game. The boys played calmly and thoughtfully throughout, deserved the win, and left keen to play again. Thanks to parents for staying to support and encourage the boys, and to Dan for patient umpiring, and to Jo for the yummy match tea (devoured in record time!) Thanks also to the weather for actually staying warm for the first time this season. The next Strikers match is against Chenies & Latimer on Wednesday 5th June, so please make sure your availability is up to date on pitchero.