End of season friendly at GXCC

An enjoyable evening, playing for fun rather than glory!

After our victory in early July, GX U8s were keen for a rematch and suggested 21st July. The boys are always up for another game of cricket, and it looked like we could get a team together in spite of the holidays, so we gladly accepted.

Unfortunately, in the time between accepting and playing, our numbers dwindled, and we found ourselves heading to GX on a cold Friday evening with only 9 players (two of whom were U7s who had gamely agreed to come and play for us!) As anticipated, GX were fielding a full strength squad of A team players, but our U8s were undaunted. GX won the toss and chose to bat first, and we headed enthusiastically into the field.

We got off to a good start with some strong bowling and fielding leading to GX losing 4 wickets in the first 8 overs. This helped maintain Beaconsfield's confidence, even though we knew there were big hitters still to come. Our U7s then did some tight bowling with plenty of dot balls to keep the score within reach. Then out came the big hitters, picking out gaps in the field, scoring boundaries and chasing wides for extra runs, adding over 40 runs for their 4 overs. Tighter bowling against good batters in the final four overs saw another wicket fall, and plenty of dot balls, and GX finished their innings with a very good score of 297-5.

After a brief stop for squash and crisps (and for the watching parents to find more layers, as it was really rather cold by this point, Beaconsfield went out to bat. George and Ben H started well, despite facing a lot of wides and no-balls. They took the singles when offered, and kept the score moving. Next in were Max and Ben D, who found themselves facing really fast, accurate bowling, that was extremely difficult to score off. They defended well and didn't lose a wicket, and came off relieved that those two bowlers had finished. Josh and Curran, our intrepid U7s, were in next, and again the bowling was mostly quick and accurate. The boys got a chance to practice all their best defensive shots, and took the runs where they could. Liam and Lucas came in knowing they needed to hit big to increase our score, but unfortunately faced a spell of rather wayward bowling, where it was almost impossible to get a bat to anything. This left us 44 runs behind as the last pair, Hector and Ben H went out to bat. They had no choice but to 'go big or go home' but found themselves facing on-target pace bowling so as they swooshed and whacked to up the score, they lost wickets too. In spite of a spirited effort, we finished on 266-8. Not as close as we would have liked, but a good effort from all the boys who showed a positive attitude in the face of defeat - as shown by the end of match photo!

Thanks again to John for umpiring, and to Raj for scoring, and to parents, siblings and grandparents who stood in the cold to cheer the boys on as the chances of victory became increasingly remote!