Archived Match Report
Under 13 XI vs. Colwall - 09 Jun - A Feast of Cricket (or the Great Escape)!
This game had everything and it was all lastminute.com from the final ball of Colwalls innings with which Arthur Harris caught and bowled their batsman - right through to the final ball of our own innings.
Canon Frome lost the toss and Colwall elected to bat first. We gave away a lot of Extras but on the whole our bowling attack was fairly impressive with Joe, Will, Arthur and Tom all taking wickets, Tom bowling a wicket maiden and Charlie contributing some tight bowling too as ever. With Arthurs last ball of the innings we took their fifth wicket and repaired to the clubhouse for tea with Colwall having posted a respectable 99 runs on the board.
And what a tea it was, with favourable comments coming from both sets of players and parents. Steph (Mary) Berry baked a chocolate cake that was so grand in its scale and ambition that even the boys failed to realise that there was still more to be eaten below having only devoured the top layer. The Canon Frome parents did us all proud with their provision of teas and Colwall were saying that they now need to raise their game with their own teas. Some of these boys come straight from school and so it should not be underestimated.
So, back out in to the field full of pizza, crisps and rich chocolate cake. Tom and Arthur opened up the batting in fine form and in the end Arthur was unlucky to be given out off the glove after putting in another fine mature batting performance. Tom was our top scorer making 19 runs for the team before falling foul of an lbw decision. Then it was Marcus who is playing like he is in Twenty 20 competitions all the time now - always looking for the quick single and keeping the runs ticking over. Its great to watch and lends a real sense of urgency to our innings that in turn puts pressure on the oppositions fielders. Talking of fielders, we have to mention the diminutive boy from Colwall in school uniform and shorts that looked for all the world like he was making up the numbers until he consistently thwarted our batsmen by stopping all balls that came in his direction.
We were running low on overs and we had now lost James Berry and Joe Davies to a rather ambitious attempt at a quick single so it was down to Will Webster and Jamie Hawkins to steady the ship. Then Jamie moved his feet and struck a four that was almost a six - and how invaluable that boundary and Wills runs were going to prove to be. We do not normally have DRS but Jamie managed to get a succession of dismissals overturned in quick succession to the extent that the next batsman Sam Booth began to resemble the cuckoo on a Swiss clock rather than our next batsman. It could not last forever though and in the final over of the game, with Canon Frome still needing 14 runs from the over, at the third time of asking, Jamie was on his way and Sam stepped out to face just 3 balls and the Frome needing an unlikely 8 runs to save the match. The first delivery was batted high in the air and into the hands of the waiting fielder No Ball Not out! two runs to us. The next delivery was struck hard and with Wills diligently backing up we got two runs. Then the last ball of the match was despatched to the boundary for the Four we desperately needed and Canon Frome had 99 runs and a draw! I swear I heard a band somewhere strike up the tune to the Great Escape and Sam was deluged with team mates so that a mountain of bodies piled up on the pitch... it was a great sight. In truth, each and every one of those players in the mountain deserves recognition for their contribution to a terrific team result; it just shows how each stolen single, each stopped four is absolutely vital. Credit too to our remaining batters George, Charlie, Ben and Will (now that is strength in depth!) who could only watch but lived and breathed every delivery at the end as they cheered on their team mates out in the middle. A really fabulous team spirit!
It was a thoroughly entertaining match enjoyed by all and it was great to have Badge down at the ground to watch it all unfold as well. Special thanks to Luke Cottrell for once again umpiring and guiding the boys out in the field; what a difference it makes. Thanks to Jim Webster for his first solo scoring mission and for finally putting those accountancy skills to good use. Thanks to Feya for scoring too and all the parents who contributed the food (it truly was a feast of cricket) and finally, thanks to the Colwall team and parents who sat with us and contributed to the great atmosphere. This one was definitely worth the match fee!
