Wanstead's U12s travelled to Harold Wood on Sunday for the quarter finals of the Brian Taylor competition. The squad’s research on Play Cricket leading up to the game had identified one particular danger man in the Harold Wood line-up and so it proved.

After losing the toss, Wanstead were asked to field first in conditions that favoured the batters. A wicket in the sixth over brought Harold Wood’s star player to the crease, and despite Wanstead’s best endeavours, he proceeded to score a magnificent 143 to lead his team to an imposing 226 off their 30 overs.

We felt that there was a chance of chasing the total down on a good pitch and with a fast outfield, but the opposition bowling was tight and the fielding was good, and Wanstead started to fall behind the run rate. The team managed to accelerate in the last 10 overs but there was too much left to do and we fell 27 runs short of the target.

Notwithstanding the defeat, there were positives for Wanstead to take from the performance. Toby was rewarded for some accurate bowling with 3 for 19 off his 6 overs. Hari took a spectacular one-handed catch at point. Anay anchored the innings with a well-paced 58, and was ably supported by Furqan (29) and Bodhi (32) before some lusty hitting from Sebastian (20 not out) at the end prolonged our hopes of a dramatic victory.

It’s a shame that the U12s cup run has come to a premature end but they have delivered some excellent cricket throughout the summer. Unfortunately they couldn’t quite live with a match-winning individual performance by a very talented cricketer.

We will go again next year in the Len Stentiford competition!