U9s hardball beat league leaders Banstead by 20 runs

by guest columnist Gilbert Kearns:

The “unbeatens” Battle of Banstead - A game of two halves

Thankfully despite regional athletics fixtures, M25 traffic, world cup football etc all of our team arrived on time and ready to go. A note of caution to parents - please ensure players have the right personal protective gear for hardball cricket. Correctly fitted helmets, size appropriate bats and pads and either tight fitting or purpose made underwear for cricket "abdominal guards". I know from experience that it's hard to bat when your box is halfway down your trousers and your family jewels are unprotected!

Cautionary notes aside, on a bright and sunny evening our captain for the day Jack Kearns marched out confidently to meet another Captain Jack from Banstead for the coin toss. Heads was called and heads it was so having won the toss our Jack chose to bat (in the light) and, with Eddie Hemingway, set about putting up a big first innings score. Oxted were off to the races swiftly. Square leg umpire was nearly decapitated by a no ball hooked viciously with intent in the air for four off the fourth ball of the innings. With Eddie playing the safe and assured accumulator picking up byes and singles, Jack had licence to play with freedom and found the boundary regularly, hitting five 4's off thirteen deliveries [An impressive strike rate of 153! Ed.]
We raced to 231 off the first four overs for the loss of no wickets.

Harry Ejje and Frazer Adams-Leach were met with some slower (therefore lower bouncing) balls which is often the way with middle order bowling at this level. Straight bats to straight balls are therefore a must on what are very much make-do pitches. Both batsmen were unfortunate to be bowled by balls that kept low but weren't officially no balls. A wicket from a catch also held up the flow of runs, but there were some well taken singles and good calling for byes along with a nice boundary from Harry. 227 - 3 after 8 overs.

Leo Bines and Alex Bussenschutt did well to keep out some tight and accurate bowling. A couple of catches and a runout held this pairing back, however cricket is a game of steady accumulation and the boys did well to keep out the good balls and wait to try and score off the rare loose deliveries. Easy to see why Banstead are top of the league as they were penalised much less by the 'two for a wide or no ball' system than previous teams we faced, only conceding two wides and five no balls in the entire innings. 215 - 6 after 12 overs.

Hugo de Vere Hunt and Isaac Jones came out with a specific remit to get the scoreboard ticking again and they hit and ran industriously. Hugo hit some lovely shots for four on three occasions and Isaac looked to play straight and preserve his wicket which is as valuable as scoring runs in this form of the game when up against good bowling. The pairing was unfortunate to have a runout in the last over but still put together the second highest partnership of the match with 21 runs. 236 - 7 after 16

Luke Hague and George Abel came out to close the innings off and played with real intent. Some great accumulation of singles by George and two nicely hit fours by Luke got us motoring. George said afterwards that they were both worried we didn't have enough runs. This may have explained the overly ambitious running which gifted Banstead two run outs and knocked 12 off an otherwise promising partnership. Innings closed on 243 - 9.

Worth noting to the boys the old adage that you don't know what's a good score until both sides have batted! [Equally perhaps we need to explain risk:reward better to the boys as risky running looks to have cost us 18 runs in this match! Ed.]

After a quick turnaround which incorporated a motivational chat on playing for each other and the team we took to the field intent on delivering to the standards we know we are capable of. Bowling and fielding is the strength of this side and we were confident we could defend a slightly below par total

Hugo and Fraser both bowled tidy opening spells, each bowling a batsmen out and Hugo had the opening bat caught at square leg on the run and to his left by an athletic catch from Luke Hague. A great start which instantly had the desired effect with Banstead on the back foot and in negative equity at 190-3 after four overs.

Leo and Alex didn’t go for many runs off the bat and bowled valiantly, although no wickets and steady accumulation by the Banstead batsmen in a 19 run partnership moved the total onto 209-3 after 8 overs.

Next up were Luke and Harry, with Luke picking up a wicket maiden in his second over. 220-4 after 12 overs compared favourably with our own 215-6 at the same stage.

Harry now took over wicket keeping duties from Jack for the last eight overs and performed athletically behind the stumps, only conceding four byes which really helped our cause.

Jack and Isaac bowled some tight overs. Isaac particularly bowled a fantastic line and length really challenging the batsmen and was unlucky not to pick up a wicket. However at the end of 15 overs Banstead had still only lost 4 wickets and only needed 10 runs to get ahead of us. This is where fantastic team spirit and determination kicked in. We needed something to happen and it did. Thanks to some great fielding from Eddie there were two runouts in Jack's last over, pegging Banstead back to 225-6 with four overs to go. Suddenly Oxted were back on top, with the run rate up at five an over. Testament to how great fielding can turn a match.

Eddie and George came on to finish off the innings and bowled superbly. George clean bowled one of their best batsmen in his first over and a tight second over from Eddie saw Banstead on 233-7 with an over to go. Were we destined for another last ball finish? Thankfully not! With Banstead hoping for some extra balls in the final over, George coped admirably well with the pressure and gave them nothing. With just two singles from the first four deliveries, the Banstead batsmen became desperate and were run out trying to run a bye to a ball that Harry had taken cleanly behind the stumps - their turn for a moment of madness! George delivered the coup de grâce bowling one of their best players again off the last ball of the match as the Banstead innings closed on 223-9, now twenty runs behind our total.

A great team effort in the field. A few training challenges to work on with our batting, running between wickets and that Holy Grail of a two over spell with no wides or no balls. That said, positive encouragement and engagement by all in the field was the best I’ve heard and seen all season.

With both sides bowling and fielding well the contest was decided by our superior boundary hitting (44 - 4 in our favour) compared to Banstead's superior bowling accuracy (26 - 49 extras in Banstead's favour).

Thanks to everyone for overcoming the logistical challenges of Monday night fixtures to get the boys to the game and to Pip Ejje for scoring.