u13s 8 wicket victory v Barnes

A great victory. Well done to the whole team. We started the day 2nd= in the league, level with Barnes, and finished the day 2nd on our own! 2 games to play 1 point off the lead (however, some teams have games in hand).

Fred won the toss and choose to bowl on a big pitch. The first few overs were nice and tight and Barnes never got away, for a long time it looked like they wouldn't post 100 (which the oppo scorer believed was a par score). They found boundaries hard to come by and the team fielded the best so far this season. There were some tremendous diving boundary saves only allowing the batsmen to run 2 rather than getting 4 - two examples stood out - one from William and one from Benedict. This really set the tone. We also had a good run out by Joseph, a great stop (nearly a worldy catch) from William and once again Billy kept really well.

In terms of bowling we only picked up 2 wickets but many of the bowlers were economical. Barnes #1 & #4 both retired 30 not out. As a team we bowled more wides (18) than usual but this could be put down to the pitch sloping away to the leg side for most bowlers. There were 0 nbs and only 6 byes. 9 players had a bowl. The most economical were: Fred (1 wicket @2.67), William (1 wicket @3.5), Joseph (@4.00), Ollie (@4.33), Anthony & Benedict (@5.00) and Joe (@6.00).

Joe and Ollie opened the batting and were off to a great start, staying ahead of the run rate. Both openers retired not out giving the team a great platform to go and win the game, Joe (33 strike rate of 92) and Ollie (30 strike rate of 94). Fred came in a #3 and did a Crawley, edging to the keeper for 3, before Anthony and Billy pretty much closed things out, Anthony (14 strike rate 64) and Billy (16 not out with a fantastic strike rate of 106). Percy helped Billy finish the match (2 not out).

A great win, much improved in the field. The team are in a great place to finish in a great league position with 2 to play.

Cheers.
Greg.

ps. Scorecard from Gravy posted on Pitchero.