Fleet U9's vs Wield U9's, Sat 11th June
Fleet, 208-5 were beaten by Wield, 252-8
Another cold and grey day but it was not raining so we set off to Fleet for our seventh game. Captain Alex won the toss and put us into the field in a switch around from what we have been used to so far this season. Summer and Maddy opened and it was a slow start for Fleet. Two runs and three wides later (with a maiden over from Maddy) they crept to 208-0. Max and Josh took over and again we pegged them back, 219-0 at half time. Thomas and Olly steamed in and Thomas bowled a wicket while Olly only conceded 2 runs... Fleet stuttered to 221-1. Will and Alex as our final pair and were on fire – Will bowled a wicket maiden for his first over and Alex bowled another in his first. Overthrows lifted the run rate in the third over and then Alex finished off with a double wicket maiden and Fleet stumbled to 208-5.
This was a magnificent bowling display: tight with only seven wides and a no ball and five excellent bowled wickets. Three maiden overs restricted Fleet and the fielding was quick and efficient which also stopped their running between the wickets. The only boundary was due to overthrows so we could go to Tea with our heads held high.
Tea, what Tea? Enough said the better sadly, another let down on that front – the players had squash and a biscuit, there was nothing for the officials. At least we weren’t charged I suppose but it would have been good to warm up with a cup of tea!
So we went into bat looking to clear up the game quickly. Summer and Maddy opened and after a tentative start got down to some quick running with only one bowled – 216-1. Josh and Max followed and at this point the wheels began to wobble. Both were trying to run but sadly the calling was a little lacking. Josh hit a four but after two bowled and two run outs we crawled to 224-5! Thomas and Olly came in and the same continued, twice both batsmen ended up at the same end, once resulting in a run out and another bowled slowed the scoring rate. Both hit 4s so with our last pair to come we were sitting fairly comfortably on 230-7. Will and Alex swung their bats on the way in and we hoped for a boundary fest, as we seemed to be having some trouble running between the wickets! Sure enough, they got stuck in and both hit 4s while also running tight singles and 2s. One more bowled from a slippery ball and we finished on 252-8. A thankful victory - our bowling and fielding was close to exemplary, however our running left something to be desired – 40 runs lost from wickets, 15 of them run outs.
The team is really doing well, the seven out of seven wins have all been convincing and this was the only game with a bit of a wobble. However, our overall strength in batting, bowling and fielding saw us through. The minor issues can be fixed and we are going into our eighth game this coming Sunday against Alton looking good
Rupert Cazalet