Chard Cricket Club

The Butleigh game being off meant 15 lads could play on Thursday at Holyrood instead of just 8 at Butleigh - that must be good for our lads.

Nathan and Bobby were Captains and selected these players:-

Nathan Johnson + Niall Crouch + Samuel Ogbonna + Ehren Anderson + Luke Young + James Driscoll

Bobby Lord + Daniel Miller + Matthew Haines + Taylor Symes + Owen Ladd + Ben Molesworth + Charlie Sparks

On winning the toss Bobby decided to field first so Luke and James opened as James played carefully in getting 3 singles while Luke was more aggressive in making 11 runs which could have been many more but for some excellent fielding, in particular from Owen and Daniel, who both stopped the ball from reaching the boundary off some hard hit shots by Luke it has to be said.

Their partnership was worth 24 runs although each was out once - Daniel bowled James while Luke was run out but other than that mix up they ran very well together - setting the tone for the evening as far as running between the wickets was concerned.

Next pair in was Samuel and Niall and it was not surprising to see Niall being the positive partner while Samuel was more restrained as he hit 5 runs in contrast to Niall's 23 which included 3 hard hit boundary fours as well as 3 very well run twos.

Neither was out as their partnership was worth 34 runs from their 4 overs at the crease - excellent batting you two - partnerships need both players doing what they are good at and it certainly showed with these two as they put on 32 runs together.

Nathan and Ehren were the last pair to bat and neither found it easy as the bowling did become a little wayward but Nathan hit one super boundary in his 9 runs and Ehren did better the longer he batted and finished with 6 runs to his name.

Both were out once but their 4 over partnership was worth 24 runs to take the team score to 82 runs scored with 4 wickets lost - giving a 'nett' score of 50.

The bowling was generally quite good with Daniel and Owen each taking a wicket for very few runs while Matthew bowled one wide but otherwise bowled very straight indeed.

As mentioned the best fielding undoubtedly came from Owen and Daniel who both made excellent stops from hard hit balls.

Could Bobby's team beat that first innings score ?

Daniel and Charlie opened and Daniel was soon out caught behind by Nathan off Samuel's excellent bowling and then he was run out as just 14 runs were scored in the first 4 overs. Each batter hit 5 runs and that was against some very tight bowling by Samuel and Niall - Charlie managed to bat his overs without getting out - that was an achievement in itself so well done Charlie.

Matthew then hit 5 runs while Taylor was restricted to just 2 runs in their partnership of 15 runs but they batted against Luke who bowled very well indeed as he took one wicket while only being hit for one run plus a wide in his 2 over spell.

At the other end James probably bowled as well as he has ever done in having just 12 runs knocked of his 2 overs with the 2nd over having no wides in it at all.

With just 6 overs of the match left Bobby's team were some 55 runs adrift of the total to beat - but their two best batters were now at the crease.

Bobby hits the ball hard, even harder than Niall would you believe, and he struck a boundary 4 and two huge 6s off his first four balls - but - then he was brilliantly caught by Samuel off another big hit.

Great catch Samuel - only you and Niall would have caught that catch as it was a very steep and difficult catch to take - terrific stuff.

Owen also showed he can hit the ball when he wants to he left behind his nervous 'I don't want to attack it in case I get out' thoughts as he struck 4 boundary fours in his knock of 17 runs but it was Bobby who again hit four boundary 4s plus those two 6s in his toal of 31 as the pair put on 51 runs in their 4 overs but lost 2 wickets in the process.

With 2 extra overs being bowled so that our newest U11/12 player Ben could have a bat - he was rather reluctant it has to be said as this was the very first time he had played hard-ball cricket - but Ben did very well to first face the spin of Niall and then the speed of our quickest bowler Samuel.

With Owen to assist him Ben did very well indeed as he was not out at the end having scored 4 runs - so well done Ben - you did much better than you thought you would do is my guess.

This last partnership took the total to 88 runs scored but having lost 6 wickets - each wicket in U12 cricket costs 8 runs remember then 48 runs had to be deducted from those 88 scored - which meant their 'nett' score was 40.

So 50 beats 40 does it not ? But in reality off the same number of overs Nathan's team hit 82 runs while Bobby's team hit 88 runs - so when you start playing 'proper' cricket from U13 onwards when it is the team which scores the more runs that wins and not the team who loses less wickets in the game - then this aggression will start paying dividends for sure.

So please do still play your shots but just keep the ball on the ground more so that you do not give your wickets away with shots resulting in catches - even if those catches are very good indeed - like Samuel's was this evening.

A really good and enjoyable evening's cricket lads - well done - great attitude, no messing about and some quality cricket being played.

Thank you for your efforts and thanks of course to Kharon for scoring so well as always and parents for their help in getting everything put back ready to go in the car. Very much appreciated I can assure you.

Well done everyone.

Next week is busy - Practice on Tuesday, game on Wednesday at North Perrott and Plate Final at Ilminster on Friday - nothing on Monday !!!

Have an evening off on Monday - go do something else other than cricket - then so can I !?!

I will send out selection for the Wednesday and Friday matches over the w/e - those who came to the Practice session this evening will be given priority when I do the selection - not everyone will play in both matches - but everyone who came last evening will play in at least one of those games if they want to do so !!!

Look forward to seeing you all at Training on Tuesday when you can have a break from me as I will be with the U10s - you will have a great time no doubt with one of the other Coaches.