u13s victory v Walton On Thames

5th league win of the season with 1 to play, away to Weybridge. Currently sitting 2nd in the league, 1 point behind Old Ruts (although Richmond have games in hand).

Fred won the toss and choose to bowl on a damp wicket and wet outfield....big thanks to Mods who covered the pitch the night before and spent quite a while rolling the pitch in the morning...for the 1st time this season (ever?) ALL 11 players had a bowl! Billy & William did a great job sharing the WK duties and the team for the most part fielded well, there were a few misfields but the conditions were tricky....the team has certainly improved in this crucial area of the game. William had a good stumping, Joe threw a fantastic direct hit for a run out and Fred took a smart, low catch. The pick of the 11 bowlers picked up wickets and/or bowled a good economy: Fred (3 overs, 1 wicket, 2.3 economy); Joe (1 over, 1 wicket, 3.0 economy); Veer (2 overs, 2 wickets, 4.0 economy); Al (4 overs, 1 wicket, 4.8 economy); William & Oz both had an economy of 3.00 and Harry bowled a maiden. 16 extras incl. 7 wides and 1 nb.

For a while it looked like we'd restrict them to 80 odd but they had a few good late overs, posting 95. This seemed well within the teams capability but it did end up being closer than maybe we thought it would be! But the team hit 99 for 5, inlcuding 2 retired not outs in the 19th over with 2 batsmen spare. The runs came from 3 batsmen: Joe, Billy & William. Joe had another great start as opener, scoring 33 not out with a strike rate of 97. Once again he provided a great platform for the rest of the side. The batting order was moved around a bit and big hitter Billy came in at 3 and did the business, hitting 30 not out with a strike rate of 103. William came in at 4 and played really well to get a crucial 16 with a strike rate of 73. These 3 contributed 79, plus 9 extras pretty much got the job done (88). A few batsmen went cheaply but they knew they could have a hit due to top order's top work! It was nice to see the Power brothers (Oz, 4 & Al, 2) power home (not out) and get the team over the line.

Greg.