U13s v Old Whitgiftians - boys step up against tough opposition to 2nd highest in the league!

Coach's report (Nik Ilukkumbure)
What was good: In the field some excellent bowling spells, good use of long barrier for reliable stops, athletic sprints, appropriate bowler choice and good keeping. With the bat, some outstanding performances with good and sustained defence against the new ball and opening bowlers and finding the gaps to dispatch bad balls through.
Room for improvement: In the field, energy, hands out of pockets at the ready and clear positioning for bowler strategy either within the inner circle to stop singles/take catches or nearer the boundary to stop 4s. Bowlers arriving in good time to warm up their arms prior to match start. With the bat against top drawer bowlers (the oppo included 3 'A listers'), patiently playing oneself in, seizing 'soft hands' singles and waiting for the bad balls. Batting order ensuring potential big hitters are given an opportunity to bat.

Bowling Highlights:
Eddie L 6 runs for 2 wickets off 4 overs
William P 7-1 2
Elliot 16-1 4
William LT 4-0 1
Badger 22-1 4
Kyan 18-0 3
Jim 14-0 2

Batting Highlights:
Eddie L 37 runs
Elliot 10
Kyan 8
Tom 2
Jim 2
George 1
Hugh 1

Roehampton: 9x4s - 16 w/nb
Old Wits: 4x4s - 14 w/nb

Match report (James Ewins)
A thrilling match for Roehampton CC U13 vs Old Whitgiftians (OW )on the Sunday 5th June.

Although RCC was meant to be facing a B team, in fact several members of the OW A team were on the team. After losing the toss OW decided to bat. Badger and Elliot opened the bowling keeping the OW batsmen a bay. After 5 overs OW had scored only 20 runs and RCC continued to keep the score down to 32/2 runs after 10 overs with great catches from Kyan and James. Eddie’s accurate bowling hit the middle stump in the 11th over and he followed that up with some excellent fielding in the 12th over at which point the score was 43/3. William took a wicket in the 15th over, but OW's opening batsmen was still at the crease on 19 runs. He was finally run out in the 18th over: Badger bowled and a catch was just missed, but excellent fielding led to the run out. But the A-team members put a sting in their middle order and they finished on 90/5 after 20 overs.

RCC started cautiously, but were soon in front. Then came a minor batting collapse, leaving the match finely balanced in the second half of the innings. OW A team had put in high run rate in the second 10 overs, so RCC had to dig deep. They had been leading for most of the match by only a few runs, then fell behind with 4 overs to play. The star of RCC batting was Eddie. He came in at No. 6 but played like a true 20-20 batsman, scoring numerous singles and boundaries. But with 18 overs down, RCC needed 14 runs off the last two overs. OW made an interesting choice of bowler in the 19th over, preferring not to return to their opening pair, but putting a relative novice. Eddie took full advantage. Unfortunately for OW, the 19th over began with two no balls, off which Eddie scored two boundaries. A final single and boundary sealed the match for RCC with a score of 94.

Spectators enjoyed a rare taste of summer sun, fresh coffee and bacon rolls as well as a thoroughly enjoyable game and had a happy, victorious team to take home afterwards.