Valley End CC U15s vs Guildford CC U15s (Midweek league)

Guildford's U15s Gladiators travelled to Valley End's old ground, just one week week after the 1 run victory in the reverse fixture.

Valley End won the toss and elected to bat first.

Ferdinand Wright was on debut for Guildford, keeping wicket.

Max Dyer and Dylan Kirk opened the bowling, with good economy and the early wickets to fall were 2 clean bowled scalps for Max Dyer.

Valley End's other opening bat scored a well taken 31 retired not out, whilst the other wickets to fall were a great one handed caught and bowled from Gian Smith; one for Dulain Jayakody caught by Aarav Goswami and a clean bowled dismissal by Tristan West.

Max Dyer combined with Ferdinand Wright for a run out, and Max Reynolds kept things very tight in his overs.

Valley End reached 115 for 6 wickets, off their 20 overs - a good score.

Valley End's bowling options were stronger in this reverse fixture. Whilst Guildford had given 2 overs to each bowler, Valley End opted for the more competitive 3 overs maximum for their 6 strike bowlers.

A new partnership of Aarav Goswami and Dulain Jayakody opened the batting, and they did so sensibly against some good bowling. Both batters were still at the crease after 10 overs, with the scoreboard ticking over. The required run rate was now around 7 per over, however the opening bats managed things well, upping the strike rate accordingly.

Aarav Goswami retired on 30 not out, before Ferdinand Wright came in at three, adding 17 well taken runs.

Dulain Jayakody scored 28 runs, including a six on the leg side - before a middle order wobble brought a couple of run outs and an LBW decision.

Fortunately a couple of big overs in the second half of the innings had brought the required run rate right down.

The scores were tied with 4 balls remaining, before Satvikya Srivastava scored a well taken four on his first ball to secure the victory, with 2 balls to spare.

Guildford won by 4 wickets.

Man of the match: Aarav Goswami