U13’s reach semi final of ECB National Club competition
The Under 13's beat St. James on Monday morning to set up a tie against Withyham CC.
We were drawn away to our friends and rivals St James in the quarter finals, played on a fresh bank holiday morning. The boys were pleased to see they were playing on a grass pitch and they got to bat first on it as Bryce lost the toss (6 times out of 8!!). However, they were soon looking enviously at the astro pitch alongside as the unpredictable bounce gave them all sorts of problems (and bruises!). Generally, we managed to keep the score ticking over with some quick singles and courageous batting, without really pushing on. Then Kieran came in at no.7. He did a great job picking up the run rate, ably supported at the end by Dan who managed to stick around and give Kieran the strike. Kieran finished on 27 not out from a total of 99.
Some easy maths, even for the adults, meant that St James had to score at a run rate of 5 an over. Whilst St James would normally be backed to get that, it was clearly a bowlers wicket and that gave us hope. The boys were sent out to field in a positive frame of mind and were really up for the task. The St James openers batted well and were quickly ahead of the rate. The boys really dug in and the bowlers then started to regularly take wickets. This was helped by some accurate throwing in the field contributing to 3 run outs with Scott doing a great job of removing the bails. St James fell 8 runs short with 8 wickets down. All the bowlers finished with figures of less runs conceded than 5 an over. Some great bowling under a lot of pressure.
Match award went to Gabriel who finished with figures of 3 wickets for 8 runs – well done Gabe. I would also like to give credit to St James who in their disappointment congratulated our boys and wished us good luck in the next round.
We are at home to Withyham CC in the semi final.
