Wield U9's vs Overton U9's, Sun 5th June
Wield, 316-1 beat Overton, 212-9
Flaming June has arrived and it came in spades on Sunday 5 June: the day dawned slightly misty and then the heat built and built until it was a proper summer’s day at Wield, with a light breeze from the north-west, perfect conditions for our fifth game of the season.
Overton arrived, Olly again politely lost the toss and we were put into bat. Summer and Maddy opened and took them to task – Summer hitting a 4 and with some well-judged running between the wickets from Maddy the score was off to a good start at 221-0. Josh and Max hurried in and Josh immediately went to work hitting four 4s but unfortunately being caught out going for the maximum. Max also got in on the action with two 4s and at halfway Wield were happy with 247-1. Olly and Thomas came in, the first time this season for this pair together and Olly opened. It was a little slow to get going but when Thomas got to the crease in the second over he cut loose. All that steady getting his eye in thus far really told as he hit five 4s and ran quick singles intelligently farming the strike. Olly supported well from the other end and Wield sped through to 281-1. The final pairing of Alex and Will arrived and with no further wickets, two 4s from Will and one from Alex we finished on 316-1, our highest total of the season.
Of course seeing as we were at home, Tea appeared as if by magic and what a Tea it was! Charlotte, Lesley, Louise and Rachael all surpassed themselves with cakes, flapjacks, and chocolate chip cookies and plenty of tea and coffee as well. Overton were delighted as were we all, and hopefully another club was converted to the True Way for cricket teas – thank you!
Summer opened the bowling, bowling one on her second ball. Maddy followed and steadied things at the other end but after a flurry of runs Overton sat reasonably happy on 219-1. Max and Josh stepped up and things slowed down a bit with no runs but a few extras. This was an unusual thing about this game, the number of extras bowled was the highest so far this year, but wickets came nonetheless. Josh took one in his second over and then his final over brought a triple wicket maiden, very unusual and devastating for Overton who crashed back to 206-5 at halfway. Thomas and Olly waded in and again, after a few more wides and no balls, Thomas took two wickets (one a beautiful catch by Maddy) and Olly bowled a maiden. With the final pair to come Overton were back to 204-7. Alex and Will set the bowling on fast and accurate and Alex took two while Will kept the other end down as best he could. But as we have seen in the past, often the more accurate you are the more you get hit and Will suffered an excellent mid-wicket six off one of his balls. Overton finally came to the end and at 212-9 they had made a go of it but been bowled out eight times, with only Maddy’s catch breaking the monotony! Other opportunities dropped were coming out of the sun, so we can forgive for that!
Another fine cricketing demonstration from Team Wield, a few too many extras perhaps, but outstanding contributions from Thomas at 24 no and Josh with bowling figures of 1-4. Five out of five...roll on Oakley next week. And many thanks again to the Tea Ladies, a fine tradition maintained.
Rupert Cazalet