Archived Match Report

Under 13 XI vs. Ross-on-Wye - 21 Jul - Some thrilling bowling

We could have won this game but for two things our batting and our bowling. After five overs we only had 11 runs on the board so its hard to imagine any team winning a game at a run rate that is on target to score 44 runs in 20 overs. Arthur Harris (or was it his new bat) scored 29 not out with Marcus Richards the next highest on 13. With the help of Extras we limped to a total of 89.
After the first five overs of the Ross innings they were already on 44 half our entire total. Things looked bleak and after 9 overs they were on 78, just eleven behind with the loss of just one wicket bowled out lbw by Arthur. Then something extraordinary happened. Two Canon Frome batsmen who had performed as meagerly as is possible in the middle decided to save their reputations by bowling their socks off.
After romping to 78 and needing only 12 more runs to win, Ross lost their second wicket. Then their third wicket fell for 80 runs. Their fourth wicket too. Then their fifth wicket went for 81 runs as did their sixth. Then their next wicket, the seventh, fell for 83 runs and you could see the possibility dawning on the opposition that they might lose all their remaining wickets in the failed attempt to score just the 12 runs they needed for victory!
Joe Davies and Sam Booth, for it was they who batted for nought but were now bowling wickets for fun and for nearly no runs at all, were engaged in a bowling blitzkrieg. Joe Davies bowled four overs for just 11 runs and took 3 wickets and on any normal day of the week this would have seen him be a shoo in for performance of the match and quite rightly so! Unfortunate for him then that on the very same day he was bowling alongside Sam Booth who bowled four overs, three of which were maidens, and one of which was a 3 wicket maiden giving away just 6 paltry runs off the entire 24 deliveries with no wides and no no balls!
The bowling very nearly did it but it was not to be and perhaps it would have been just too freakish for a team to win having posted such a mediocre target and then rely on decimating the opposition before they could score eleven runs. Still we very nearly did it and if all our low scoring batsmen had scored just another 2 runs we might well have done it. To that end mention should be made here of Henry Richards, our U9 player, who fielded for us and had five U13 batsmen below him in the ranks of run scoring well done Henry and thank you for your contribution to the team, it is appreciated and it goes to show again how important every player and every run is!