Yarlet 61 all out (22.2 overs) Elliot T 3/10 S.Anselm’s 65-3 (18 overs) S.Anselm’s won by 7 wickets
At last! I’ve said many times in the last fortnight how pleased I am with the progress our bowling line up is making in terms of accuracy and consistency and that it is only a matter of time before you dismiss a half decent team cheaply. Today was that day! Yarlet had a very capable team but were short of match practice and you took full advantage! Hobson looked capable before he pushed his ninth delivery to Harvey W at silly mid on and Isaac S took an early wicket too, though he was not quite at his best today. Malyon was almost caught second ball, low at cover, but he soon settled in with Friend and, after a difficult start, Yarlet were scoring runs as Oliver R didn’t quite have the necessary consistency. The match changed however in seven deliveries as Yarlet fell from 35-2 to 40-5 as Elliot T broke the stand and Alex W had Malyon well caught in the covers and Somerville was superbly caught by Harvey W who took a reaction catch at silly mid on ... a wonderful catch it might have been, but it was the accuracy of our bowlers that allowed us to keep two such close fielders: had we been hit for a few boundaries, fielders would’ve been pushed back and Harvey wouldn’t have been in that position. Full marks all round! Fernival, however, soon settled in. He was not going to give his wicket away easily but the 20 minute 6th wicket stand was broken as Fernyhough was well caught by Bertie W at mid off from Theo H’s first ball bowled. Elliot T struck twice more against nervous opposition batting and when Bertie W took the final two wickets with eight excellent off spinning deliveries Yarlet had declined from 50-5 to 61 all out. It’s so important when the opposition are struggling, to continue to work hard to dismiss them for as low a total as possible. Who’d have known what might have happened had we needed 85 to win against their super spinner with time running out? 61 all out was just what we wanted.‘Google Friend’ (as he’s known at Yarlet) ought to have opened their bowling. Who’d have known what would’ve happened next ...? Instead Malyon was hit by Theo H and Ferynyhough by Alex W for successive boundaries to take S.Anselm’s to 28-0 after 6 overs. We couldn’t have wished for a better start! Almost half way there! Friend, however, bowled Theo H with his third ball as Theo hit across the line – it didn’t look good – and Yarlet had a sniff as Alex W was run out on the stroke of tea. Call ‘wait!’ then ‘no!’ when the opposition fielder is yet to attack the ball, not ‘yes!’ ...! That said, it was good to see you have a chance at the top of the order and the opening stand was a good one to snuff out any chance Yarlet had and with a couple of key wickets you take the man of the match award. After tea Yarlet were, however, in a determined mood. There followed 20 minutes of superb attritional U11 cricket. We knew, at 34-2 we were always likely to reach the target of 62 but Ollie R put past mistakes against the Fathers and the 2nd XI behind him to bat very carefully and Jonah G looked very much the part at number 3. You might only have scored ‘four’ (which hardly boosts the averages!) but I can barely recall a better innings (of just four runs) in my time at S.Anselm’s! ‘Google’ Friend had a superb loop and looked like a leg spinner, only for the ball to turn like an off break (i.e. a googly). You faced most of his bowling, and you played him ever so well. Well done! Unfortunately a ‘medium pacer’ dismissed you the following over but a second ball four hit by Edward S very well past mid off released any pressure and, finally, he and Ollie R shared something of a partnership together to get us past the finishing post. Full marks to Yarlet for making us work hard for our runs (it was so important we dismissed them for 60-odd not 80 or 90), so we had to keep to our ‘main’ bowlers, but this was a very satisfying win following on from all the draws we’ve had so far this term (against, sometimes, much stronger opposition!). We live to fight another day, after ‘half term’!
Posted on
Thu, June 3, 2010
by MAC