Resounding 1st league victory for U10 ESCL

Thanks to John Gildersleeve for taking the time to produce the following match report:

From the off, this team looked ready, which was the opposite of the pitch, still bearing the scars from the previous days school fete.
Luke ( Hague) won the toss and with a still damp outfield, sensibly put Reigate into bat.
The team huddle as the opening pair walked out, symbolised the unity this team would exude from the start.
With field positions decided beforehand, we looked organised & ready; a force to be reckoned with.
Reigate's opening pair had to face the strong opening quartet of bowlers of Lawrence Lewis, William Blackborough, William Gildersleeve and Luke Hague.
After 4 overs they were in deficit. 199. Luke picking up 2 wickets from his 6 balls, but with only 1 wide and 1 bye from these 4 overs, this was as strong a start as we could have wished for against 2 accomplished batsmen.
Unfortunately for Reigate the next 3 overs provided no let up as Sam Bream, Leo Virley and Isaac Jones all picked up (bowled) wickets respectively.
Pablo Portillo and Oliver Gilham completing the first round of bowlers, with Oliver delivering a tight maiden over.
After 10 overs we had taken 6 wickets, and conceded only 2 wides and 2 no balls and pinned Reigate back to 189.

With pressure mounting on Reigate’s batsmen, the calls to run started to become more frequent and the shots riskier. How did we respond ? With 3 direct hit run outs, and 4 catches, the pick of which was Sam Ward’s stunning take and direct hit throw. A brilliant piece of individual skill capping off an impressive, consistent performance by Sam W as wicket keeper. With so much good stuff going on William Blackborough’s impressive 3 wickets (all bowled) over almost seemed the norm for this team ! [Ed. disappointed no hat-trick this week Master B!]

With a strong final batting pair coming in and the score on 175 there was a lot left for them to do.
Unfortunately the game was halted for a short period after one of Reigate’s batsmen was struck on the back by a no ball from Pablo. Whilst the batsman retired hurt I’m pleased to say, no lasting harm done. Congratulations Pablo on sportsmanship of the first order as he apologised and sought assurances the batman was ok.

With the strong bowling and fielding continuing to the end, the final 4 overs resulted again in deficit, ending with one less run than when they started.
The innings finished on a total of 174 with a total loss of 16 wickets, with only 3 wides, 6 no balls & 9 byes being conceded by OLCC.

The opening pair for O&LCC of Captain Luke and Will B gave a great foundation, putting on 25 runs for no loss. Next in Oliver & Isaac who pushed the score onto 238. Third pair was Pablo and Lawrence, who decided to liven up the game somewhat with some interesting calls. Yes, no, yes, wait, yes and that was just one ball that was in the keepers gloves! After 2 runs outs in the same over, the home umpire (me) was considering options of how to intervene. Despite getting out to a stunning one-handed catch from one of the Reigate fielders at cover they still managed a solid contribution of a 21 partnership with some mighty strikes from Pablo. Next in Sam W and Will G, who put on a solid partnership of 19, with the suicidal calls for non existent runs now a distant memory and the home umpire’s blood pressure back to normal.
Last pair in were Sam B and Leo, who put the icing on the cake with a solid 15 run partnership with Sam B hitting 2 boundaries at the close.
O&LCC finishing on 296 for the loss of just 5 wickets.

A comfortable victory on paper. One earned with good cricket basics. The work done beforehand in practice and applied with the right attitude collectively. Very satisfying!