Tadworth Cricket Club
Young Cricketers (COLTS)
Tadworth
Tigers
Our Under 10 Squad
Sunday
17th June
2007
Tadworth U10’s
v
Old Mid Whitgiftians
CC
North East Central
Match Report:-
Courtesy of Nick Abear and the Under 10 Squad
RESULT - Tadworth won by 35runs
After the rains of Saturday fortune once again
smiled on the u10s as we were greeted by clear skies at the TCC.
Leon once again took the captains armband after Max had deputised in
his absence the previous week, but the luck of earlier in the season
was still missing as we lost our third toss in as many games. The
OMW captain correctly called heads and chose to bat first.
Alex was once again given the new ball and despite giving away a
wide with his first delivery, he followed that with five dot balls.
New boy Rory Mitchell partnered Alex from the London End and despite
being a little nervous, bowled two overs for just eight runs. We
didn’t manage a wicket in the first four overs but did keep it tight
and as the second pair of OMW batsmen walked to the wicket the score
had reached 214/0.
Alex continued from the Surrey End and although he didn’t take a
wicket his three overs went for just seven runs. Leon took over from
him and maintained the stranglehold on the OMW batsmen, conceding
just the one run from his first over. Ben took over from Rory and
with his second ball continued his excellent form with the ball this
season bowling OMW batsman Labib with his well flighted leg spin.
And but for conceding a dubious wide to the visiting umpire he would
have started with a wicket maiden. Nevertheless the batsmen were
still struggling to score runs and after eight overs were 221/1.
Leon finished his spell conceding just five runs from his two overs
and was replaced by Finlay. Fresh from his six wickets at Sutton a
week ago the little magician almost did it again. As he ran in to
bowl the third ball of his first over, his second hat-trick in as
many weeks was on as he had taken wickets with both of his first two
balls. The first a really well taken catch by Ben at slip, the
second an even better one by Eddy at silly mid off. This time though
it was not to be as Neil, the OMW captain and best player, saw off
the hat-trick ball. Eddy replaced Ben at the London End and despite
going for 11 runs in his two overs (which included two wides) he had
OMW batsman Darragh run out after some excellent work in the field
by Ben and William. As OMW’s penultimate pair took guard Tadworth
were in an excellent position with OMW on Double Nelson, 222/4.
Finlay continued from the Surrey End and took his
third wicket of the day taking an excellent return catch to dismiss
Rohith with the second ball of the over, and it got even better for
him in his fourth and final over of the day when Aneesh skied a shot
which was well caught by Alex running backwards from silly mid on.
It turned out to be a wicket maiden and his figures of 4 for 11 off
four overs were again the best of the day. While Finlay was making
hay at the Surrey End Ben had returned to partner him, his first
over was a maiden, he then followed that by bowling Aneesh in his
final over. His figures of 2 for 12 off four were only bettered by
Fin. After 16 overs OMW were struggling on 211/7.
Max replaced Ben from the Surrey End and with his fourth ball had
Jabir caught by the excellent Eddy. His performance in the field was
certainly the best of the season so far. Dean came on to bowl the
penultimate over of the innings and with the fifth ball of his over
had Daniel caught, once again by Eddy, at silly mid on. Max bowled
the final over as the innings closed OMW had reached 215/9.
Our performances in the field have been getting better and better
and this was the best yet as we also got the wickets we deserved.
These games are never over at the half way stage but we were very
confident we could go on from here and win the match.
End of Innings
Since Oliver’s departure we have been looking for a new opening
partnership to match the one that started the season. Leon was back
in the team after missing the last match at Sutton and returned to
his opening spot. He was partnered with James who had shown at
Sutton that he had the ability to stand up to the best of the
opposition bowling. The pair started well, each taking a single of
the first two overs, but with the first ball of the third over OMW
opening bowler and captain Neil, bowled a peach of a delivery that
clipped the top of Leon’s off stump and his season long unbeaten run
was over. James batted well and held his nerve against some accurate
bowling until the very last ball of the fourth over when he spooned
a simple catch to short mid on. As Ben and Max made their way to the
middle we had fallen behind slightly but the new ball had been seen
off and we were still well on course for victory at 197/2.
The new pair took eight runs off of the first over they faced, four
of which came from a classic Ben shot as the little left-hander
pulled a ball that was just short of a length to the backward square
leg boundary. He was unfortunately bowled in the very next over but
Max remained not out and the pair continued to run well picking up a
number of quick singles. Despite losing the wicket they shared a
partnership of 11 runs and as their stay at the crease came to an
end the score had moved back into the positive at 208/3.
The pairing of Max and Ben had been used before and had worked well
but as with the openers, the third pair was untried. Rory, on debut,
had looked very good in training and Dean, despite having been out
on three occasions, looks as if he is beginning to settle into the
team and is growing in confidence. Potentially they are an explosive
partnership. They started cautiously adding just five runs in their
first two overs and all was going well until Rory had a rush of
blood and tried to hit one into the next county and was
comprehensively bowled. Dean, who batted and ran well, remained
unbeaten for the first time this season and Rory came good in the
pairs final over hitting one of the shots of the day when he pulled
a short ball to the square leg boundary, almost cleaning up the
umpire en route. Certainly a partnership to persevere with and one
I’m sure will bear fruit over the coming weeks. At the end of 12
overs we were ahead of the required total and seemingly on course
for victory at 219/4.
With MJ out of the team it is always important to find the right
partner for the prolific William. Finlay is quick between the
wickets and useful with the bat having already made 40 runs this
season in his five innings. They couldn’t have got off to a worse
start though. Facing the bowling of Aneesh, William played all
around his first delivery, which is truth was a poor ball which
bounced twice and kept very low, and was bowled. In the next over he
offered a simple catch to the infield which was gratefully accepted
off the bowling of Labib. In the third over of their stay at the
crease Finlay was controversially given run out by the visiting
umpire when he had clearly made his ground. Despite losing these
three wickets the pair accumulated runs well and after 16 overs
Tadworth were 227/7.
Over the past few weeks Alex and Eddy have made the final batting
slot their own following some great performances. This week would be
no different. They added nine runs in their first over and another
three in their second which took the score on to 239 and 24 ahead of
the target. Eddy was unlucky to be out in their third over when he
gave a catch to short mid off from a ball sat up and stopped off the
pitch. This was too little to late of the OMW as the final over went
for another nine runs and when the innings closed Tadworth had
reached a total of 250/9.
Summary
It was a well deserved victory that was only clouded by the fact
that we lost nine wickets to one of the more ordinary bowling
attacks that we have faced this season. With some huge matches still
to come we really need to stop giving our wickets away. Still there
were more positives than negatives. The bowling and fielding was
again excellent, I cannot believe there is a better team than us in
either of the leagues and we are still getting better by the match.
If we continue in this vein and can improve our batting I have no
doubt we can qualify for the play-offs and even win the final.
Man of the Match
Despite
another match winning performance with the ball from Finlay and some
excellent bowling and fielding throughout the team, this week the
MOTM award goes to Eddy Papagni for a brilliant performance in the
field, backed up by some very good batting and bowling. His three
catches turned the match in our favour at crucial times. He has
consistently been one of our best fielders and fully deserves the
award this week.
I would also like to make a special mention to William Ireland who
in the entire 20 overs did not let one bye through and this without
a backstop, a fine leg or a third man. I doubt this feat has been
achieved very often, if ever, at this level and I cannot praise him
enough for this excellent effort.
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My
thanks to the Under 10 Squad and Nick Abear for the above match
report.
