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S.Anselm’s 114-9 dec. (45 overs) Theo H 40, Edward S 27  Smallwood Manor 95-5 (16 overs) Elliot T 3/21   Match Drawn

114-9 declared followed by 95-5 may look a fairly close encounter, but this was a desperately fortunate draw for our U11 cricket team. Had we declared even three overs earlier (99-8), Smallwood would have won comfortably. S.Anselm’s benefited from the limit of five overs per bowler – after seven very decent bowlers, or better (35 overs), we finally scored some runs against numbers 8 and 9 in the Smallwood attack. Little did Smallwood expect to have to bowl so many overs before the match began ...I mentioned the election in the last report ... at 13-5 (in the 15^th over) just after 3 p.m. we looked as likely to ‘hang in there’ as John Major in 1997. Who’d have thought we’d still be playing cricket three hours later?! Smallwood opened with two very capable bowlers but Matthew N and Isaac S played them well. There were no loose balls and we hit the fielders with any positive shots – perhaps the next two bowlers would be less accurate? What a thought! Bowler three (Heath) swung the ball in whilst left arm quick bowler Hart (he took up bowling last week – he had been their wicket-keeper!) was something special. Matthew N’s resistance ended in the covers and Isaac S was well caught behind against one that bounced. When Ollie R’s 5^th immaculate defensive stroke found his off stump knocked back, the innings was in tatters at 7-3 (in the 12^th over?!). Lewis H hung on for another few overs but with the Smallwood bowling being so accurate and with nothing to hit we were scoreless. 73 balls faced for six runs by our top three. When he played across the line and Alex W was somewhat unfortunate to defend his first ball to wide deep silly mid on we were 13-5 in the 15^th over. I couldn’t recall a start like this – death by a thousand cuts! My thought all along (with just five overs per bowler) was ‘surely the next two won’t be able to bowl so straight ...’ Edward S edged a four, Jonah G faced most of the bowling, but Smallwood continued to bowl well. The pair added 18 runs in 9 overs before Jonah played inside a straight ball. Edward S brought back memories of his heroic innings against Wellow with some pleasant shots but when he drove a wide ball to be very well caught in the covers (51-7, 31^st over) the end really did look nigh. There was still Theo H in, however, and Smallwood were starting to run out of bowlers. Surely Theo couldn’t perform for us again?! Elliot T batted until tea – I have to say again, work against the bowling machine yesterday afternoon was very evident as you defended the straight balls well and after tea Theo H cut loose against (finally) some less accurate bowling. You could’ve been man of the match again! Harvey W and Bertie W looked as if they’d put the total beyond Smallwood’s reach following the coach’s late declaration ... or perhaps not? The first two overs (27-0) looked as if I’d asked Elliot T and Alex W to try to bowl in mid-February. Full tosses, wide deliveries. I tend to declare late, but, even so, Smallwood were surely going to win this one. Thankfully Elliot T then bowled four superb overs to win the man of the match award and Ollie R was equally accurate from the other end. Ollie R, just back on games one should remember, was equally brave behind the wicket-keeper as he took a blow just below the eye at fine-leg with a diving stop. The Smallwood openers ran very well between the wickets, a lesson for our team here, but Elliot T took three ever so important wickets to halt the charge. Hart was within a whisker of being dismissed lbw second ball and had I given it, Smallwood might’ve been hanging on at the end, but he played very well to almost remount the challenge. One over never gives you a chance, but I was disappointed that six overs from our other bowlers went for 55 runs ... we hung on grimly. I do take some satisfaction from the fact that we continue our unbeaten U11 run against Smallwood to over 40 years now (we’ve had some very good wins in recent years) by ‘digging in deep’ but we were outplayed today by a team that lost their first two matches of the season. There’s a lot of work to be done.