U11A v Ranby House Draw

Ranby House 93-5 dec. (28 overs)    S.Anselm’s 60-5 (23 overs) Oliver R 25*    Match Drawn

Ranby House may have lost their opening three matches of term (following winning our cricket festival!) against Lincoln Minster, St.Hugh’s and Foremarke Hall but a remarkably assured 6^th wicket partnership between Morris and Phillips saved them from a fourth consecutive defeat in this short ‘timed’ match – indeed, with a late start, early finish and lengthy tea interval, a nail-biting limited overs affair might have been the preferred option this afternoon. In 2008 (our last draw against Ranby) we played 70 overs in total ... today it was just 51, and no complaints about the over-rate here either. What pleased me most this afternoon was the consistency of our four opening bowlers. For the first time this term we had control of the match in the field. With a well set field, we started aggressively. Isaac S wins the man of the match award for his accuracy and two vital wickets. It was so pleasing to see the progress made in the last few days. Having recorded, in 100 frames, your bowling action, four areas for improvement were highlighted – a shorter run up, a more controlled delivery stride, a stronger left arm in the action and no hint of a throw. For the most part, you got it all right today, even if the key wicket of star Routledge was off a full toss! With Oliver R bowling accurately at the other end, Ranby found runs very hard to come by. Being in charge of a match has other benefits too – Ranby were slow and nervous to take the singles ... Alex W started with a wicket maiden and a maiden. What a transformation from the Smallwood fixture! Elliot T took a wicket too, though he felt less comfortable today – you all seem to be happier bowling at ‘my’ umpiring end! When Bates edged to Matthew N Ranby House fell to 29-5 whereupon their superb 6^th wicket partnership started. Morris had made three ducks in their opening three matches. He was dropped on 15, but otherwise was as good a number 6 as one would wish to have. Ably supported by Phillips, Ranby added 53 runs in their final 8 overs either side of tea ... it was to prove decisive despite Bertie W and Jonah G bowling well at a difficult time. We had an hour to score 94 runs to win. We needed a solid base before taking the attack to Ranby. Unfortunately it was not forthcoming as Routledge proved to be a very penetrating bowler. Not just quick, but really at the batsman on a good length. His final figures were 5-5-0-2 and full marks to Ollie R (19 balls) and Alex W (6 balls) for keeping him at bay following two wickets in his opening over as Isaac S played inside the line and Edward S was cleaned up second ball. Five matches so far this term – Edward S and Ollie R have never both scored runs in the same match! Ranby House gave Ollie R and Theo H few scoring opportunities so that we only scored nine runs from the opening nine overs. If we had enjoyed a few byes, received the odd loose ball to hit for four and run a few tight singles we might have been in with a chance of closing down their total, but Ranby House bowled well and we were happy to survive. Theo H edged into his stumps – did you have time to react and nudge the ball away a second time – as Ho took a deserved wicket with his mixture of off and leg spin but Alex W secured the draw for S.Anselm’s with a second 30-minute partnership with Ollie R who, as against Foremarke, impressed by hitting some immaculate fours in a generally defensive innings. I was most satisfied! Jonah G hit a wonderful boundary but, for the sake of the averages, if nothing else, you ought to have defended the next straight ball, the final ball of the match. It’s been a difficult start to term – two (possibly three) teams have been better than us (Foremarke, Smallwood, Ranby?) whilst we’ve been stronger than Wellow and Derby Grammar. All things considered, W 1 D 4 L 0 is, thus, a very satisfactory start. George Graham (Arsenal Manager, not the ‘2B’ form member) would be delighted to get the defence sorted first as we’ve (perhaps) done ... the victories will come. Others would argue that ‘you have to be prepared to lose in order to win’ and that we ought to have thrown caution to the wind a little more. It’s not easy to get the balance right. What I will say is that, considering the opposition, I’m more than happy with our start. That said, we look forward to the next win!