Under 17s win two matches in 3 days

More good news for the Under 17s. Match reports from Tim Dyer…

West Surrey Youth Cricket League

Tuesday 6th July 2010

Bank of England U17 118 all out (18.2 overs)

Stoke D’Abernon U17 122 for 4 (19 overs)

Stoke D’Abernon U17 won by 6 wickets

Bank of England, (BoE), arrived with a reputation of being a hard team to beat. Stoke were far from full strength with injuries, holidays and Duke of Edinburgh courses depleting an already thin squad. The Under 17s welcomed Hugo, Harry and Dan into their team from the Under 15s.

A tranquil summer’s evening at Stoke, both the outfield and square showing the impact of this summer’s lack of rainfall. The outfield is bumpy, brownish and very fast. The square is very hard and dusty. The groundsman is doing an amazing job to prepare wickets in these conditions. The Tuesday strip was worn and repaired, but stood up well to the task.

The decision was to have first use of the new ball, especially with 8 overs of Alex and Jake available, and to then chase down BoE’s score. The light was good.

John lost the toss, but happily BoE decided to bat first. The fact that some of their players were late may have influenced this decision.

After 6 overs of Jake and Alex, BoE were 17 for 5 and probably regretting their decision to bat.

Alex had picked up 5 wickets for 7 runs in 3 overs and, although Jake was wicketless, his 3 overs had only yielded 9 runs.

For the purists, Alex had bowled two, had one caught behind by Robbie, one plumb LBW first ball and one well caught by Jake in the gully.

Unfortunately, the BoE’s number 5 bat was dropped off Matt L’s bowling and that seemed to prompt BoE in to staging a strong rally.

No.5 and their No.7 bat, (both Under 15 players), then proceeded to smack Stoke’s bowling to all parts of the ground.

After 10 overs, the score was 54 for 6, with John bowling the No.7 batsman for 27 runs. This did not stop BoE’s run gathering. Their next batsman maintained the onslaught and by the end of the 13th over, the score was 91 for 7 with Adam bowling the No.8 batsman for a quickfire 19 runs.

No.5 carried on, but the impetus had gone. In the 16th over, with the score on 110, Adam caught him at mid on off Will C’s bowling for 32 runs.

BoE’s ninth batsman was then clean bowled by Will C in the 18th over.

BoE only had 10 players, so their innings closed on 118 off 18.2 overs.

The strip was a good batting wicket and Alex and Jake’s extra pace and bounce with the new ball had made the initial difference.

Stoke’s other bowlers had bowled to their best abilities, but medium pace was meat and drink to any good batsman on this wicket.

For the statisticians…Jake bowled 3-0-9-0; Alex 4-0-18-5; Matt L 4-0-38-0; John 3-0-10-1; Dan 1-0-19-0; Adam 1-0-12-1 and Will C 1.2-0-10-2.

Stoke were their customary generous selves and gifted 17 extras to BoE of which 9 were wides and 6 were no balls.

Stoke felt confident that the total was within their reach.

Robbie and Hugo strode out to begin the reply. The coach is pleased to report that they batted beautifully together. Hugo opens for his school and was clearly delighted to be batting with Robbie. They saw off the opening BoE attack and after 6 overs, Stoke were 32 for 0. They then accelerated the scoring against BoE’s second string and after 12 overs the score was 78 for 0.

Both batsmen were driving well and scoring all around the wicket. Robbie arrived at 50 in the 15th over with the score on 100…a great century partnership.

Then a small wobble set in! BoE’s leg spinner was turning his leg breaks and Hugo was caught for a fine 42, off the second ball of the 16th over. Matt L was then run out going for a quick single off the sixth ball…a quick pick up, throw and direct hit by the bowler, off his own bowling, doing the damage.

John joined Robbie and together they scored 5 off the 17th over to take the score to 106 for 2. The BoE fast left arm opening bowler returned to bowl the 18th over and SDCC lost Robbie for a sublime 56, (caught behind), and Jake, (caught on the third man boundary), to the second and fifth balls.

108 for 4 off 18 overs and BoE were right back in it. The noise levels rose, but John and Harry were equal to the task.

An eventful 19th over saw 1 wide, 1 no ball, 4 leg byes and John hit two lovely straight driven 4s with his new bat. 122 for 4 off 19 overs.

A six wicket victory for Stoke. BoE gifted SDCC 10 extras of which 4 were wides.

The biggest lesson to learn remains Stoke’s seeming inability to capitalize on good starts. This season has witnessed a number of recoveries against our bowling attack by tail end batsmen. The coach senses a relaxation in the field after early wickets…the match v Weybridge CC remains the best performance because an intensity was maintained throughout their innings.

Man of the Match was Hugo for his fine 42. The coach was delighted to see him step up and bat so well under pressure.

Robbie and Alex were in strong contention for their excellent individual performances. 

My thanks to David Bond for scoring; to Liz & John Leach, Mike Perkins and Graham Jarvis for organizing drinks etc and to all the other supporters for being there.

Thursday 8th July 2010

Weybridge Vandals U17 87 for 4 (20 overs)

Stoke D’Abernon U17 91 all out (11.3 overs)

Stoke D’Abernon U17 won by 10 wickets

Injuries, holidays and Duke of Edinburgh courses meant that Hugo, Dom and Michael D guested from the Under 15s and James P represented the Under 14s. They were a very welcome addition to a depleted team. 

The Weybridge Vandals ground is in a lovely location on an island in the middle of the River Thames, but the Vandals are primarily a Rugby Club and the outfield bore testimony to that sport. The square had been heavily watered and was quite soft underneath the surface, while the outfield was bumpy, dry and very fast.

In addition, the boundaries were quite small, especially on one side of the square. A quick inspection of the wicket and again it was decided that first use of the new ball was preferential and Stoke would chase down the Vandals score.

John lost the toss and the Vandals elected to bat.

Jake and Alex opened up the Stoke bowling attack. The soft wicket blunted their usual penetration, but they both bowled with plenty of vigour and accuracy. After 6 overs, the Vandals were 21 for 2. Two good outfield catches by Adam and Will D off Jake’s bowling accounting for the wickets. Jake managed to extract a bit of extra bounce which caused both batsmen to mis-hit.

After 12 overs, the Vandals were 55 for 3, with Alex taking a good catch off Adam’s bowling for the third wicket.

The lifeless nature of the wicket made both runs and wickets hard to come by. John sensibly kept rotating his bowlers to ensure that the Vandals’ batsmen rarely settled. He kept experimenting, which was encouraging, and very nearly managed to buy a few more wickets, but potential catches kept frustratingly falling where there were no fielders.

A run out, following a sharp piece of fielding by Jake at mid on, accounted for the fourth Vandals wicket in the 15th over, with their score on 62.

The Vandals’ innings then dribbled to a close on 87 for 4 off 20 overs. A good effort by everyone in the field.

For the statisticians…Jake bowled 3-0-12-2; Alex 4-1-10-0; Matt L 3-0-16-0; Adam 2-0-16-1; Dom 3-0-6-0, John P 3-1-9-0, Will D 1-0-4-0 and James P 1-0-8-0. A very good effort, in particular Dom bowled very tightly.

As ever, Stoke gifted 18 extras, of which 8 were Wides, 5 were No Balls and 4 were Leg Byes. Robbie’s wicket-keeping was again of the very highest quality on a poor outfield. Watching him stand up to Jake’s bowling was a real treat.

88 to win. Stoke felt confident.

Robbie & Adam strode out to open the Stoke innings…and that was that.

In 11.3 overs, they hit 91 runs to secure a win by 10 wickets. Robbie finished on 44 not out and Adam on 41 not out. The Vandals gifted 6 extras. 50 of the runs came in boundaries.

Man of the Match was Adam for his all round performance. He was actually seen to play a few defensive shots and even tried a Robbiesque cut to third man!

My thanks to David Bond for his excellent scoring and to the supporters for being there.

On to the last league match v Merrow CC on Sunday 11th July.

Table Link : http://westsycl.play-cricket.com/leaguetables/divisionTable.asp?id=10052168&seasonID=23