O&LCC U9 NEC v Old Whitgiftians

Old Whits won by 47 runs.

10 players reported for duty bang on time for 9:00 am at the Old Whitgiftians Sports Ground. Captain for the day Arthur Peachey won the toss and elected to have a bowl. Old Whits batted sensibly in the first pair, not losing a wicket and accumulating 27 runs. Pair 2 also batted well moving the score to 245-1 with just one wicket falling to an excellent catch by Sam Ward. Oxted needed some inspiration and it was provided by Jamie Harmer and Alex Newland bowling overs 10 and 11 against a pair that the Old Whits parents said normally play very straight and don't get out. 2 wickets apiece and no extras pegged Old Whits back to 233-5 just past the midway point of the innings. It was an exciting passage of play with both bowlers picking up one wicket via deflections onto the stumps and a second from good catches by Frazer Adams-Leach and Isaac Jones. Old Whits rebuilt their innings after this losing just two more wickets, both out caught (Frazer again and Jamie H). The opposition closed on 276-7. An excellent display in the field from Oxted taking 5 good catches and just putting down 2 chances. Ground fielding and throwing were also very good with some boundaries saved and possible 2's kept down to just singles. Old Whits batted sensibly prepared to defend the straight ball to keep their wickets intact. Whilst our fielding was good we gave away 52 extras in wides and no balls, something to work on at training (by contrast Old Whits conceded just 22 from 9 bowlers). Old Whits finished on 276 - 7 a good score but one we felt we could chase down.

Our innings started well with Sam Ward hitting a lovely pull shot for 4, but we struggled to build momentum against some good accurate bowling. Old Whits had an amazing variety of bowlers, Right arm fast, left arm fast, leg spin and slow left arm. This variety was something we haven't come across in the past and it proved too much for us. 205-3 after the first pair became 201-5 after the second. Special mention to Daniel Cawthorne who fronted up very bravely to the fastest bowler we faced last year, a young left arm bowler who would be the U9 equivalent of Mohammed Amir bowling very fast straight deliveries. After an early wicket in his first over Daniel kept him out for all 6 balls of the second over. After pair 3 we had slipped to 191-9 and the match had gone. The 4th pair had revised instructions from the coach to try and get 15 runs and not get out. Alex and Jamie H set about this task sensibly and had achieved it after just 3 overs! Unfortunately we lost two more wickets in the last over of the pair, facing the left arm spinner Alex was unlucky to be caught behind and Jamie to edge one onto his stumps. The last pair of Harry Ejje and Arthur Peachey was asked for 20 runs without losing a wicket and they responded very well with a partnership of 31 for 0 bringing some respectability to the innings as we closed on 229 -11.

Old Whits did bowl well, with at least 6 very good bowlers in their side. We lost 7 of our wickets out bowled so there is a lesson in there for the us about shot selection to a straight ball. A learning point for the coaching team as well around setting targets for each batting pairing.

We'll be back stronger for the experience!