U15 Match v Stockton, Report
When I started looking after junior teams, Stockton were the team to beat. They came to Richmond looking for a win to make them the top Durham team in the league, which would give them an entry to another competition, but went away thoroughly beaten.
We won the toss and Matthew followed instructions to bat first. Some early runs behind the wicket helped the score along, but after hitting a couple of fours, George was bowled. Spence was in next but unfortunately gave a simple catch before he got going. Gary Walker came in after that, Matthew told him to play himself in, which he did by hitting his first ball for a one bounce four over extra cover. Matthew and Gary then really got going. Gary never really middled the ball, if he had, several balls would have been lost, but he made his way to a fast 52 retired before Matthew also retired after his sixth 50 of the season. When Gary left, it must have been particularly worrying for Stockton to see his identical twin brother Mark come to the crease. Mark and Harvey got some quick runs at the end before we closed on 168 for 2, against a team with a number of players who play representative cricket.
Stockton knew they had to score fast and lost two early wickets to run outs, one a direct hit from George after he had stopped a ball going down the leg side. Jonny Carr bowled the number four and got the number five thanks to a catch from Matthew. Debutant David Bulmer came on first change and bowled a couple of tidy overs. At the other end, our secret weapon in the form of Jack Smith was introduced, he took two wickets, one caught at point by Harvey and another caught behind. Jonny Carlton took an excellent catch in the deep to give Ted his first wicket, Gary nearly took another difficult outfield catch next ball, before Ted hit the stumps with the following ball. Having announced that Ted was "hooping it", Harvey had high hopes of knocking over the tail as is his forte, he bowled the number eight before the last pair showed some resistance. Spence generously extended their stay by spilling a caught and bowled off his leg spin, before Jonny Carr took the final wicket thanks to a sharp catch in the gully by Harvey, as Stockton were dismissed for 82.
This was a real team effort, we used nine bowlers and we were missing our two county players. It is strength in depth that has made us the unbeaten league champions. Other teams have some really good players, but their top order batters have to bat cautiously because they know they have little left below them in the order and they struggle to find decent change bowlers. Nine of our players have scored over a hundred runs in the season (in last year's U15 team four did) and although we have two county bowlers, they have only taken eight of the seventy six wickets our bowlers have taken.
Well done to all those who have played for the team this season.
We won the toss and Matthew followed instructions to bat first. Some early runs behind the wicket helped the score along, but after hitting a couple of fours, George was bowled. Spence was in next but unfortunately gave a simple catch before he got going. Gary Walker came in after that, Matthew told him to play himself in, which he did by hitting his first ball for a one bounce four over extra cover. Matthew and Gary then really got going. Gary never really middled the ball, if he had, several balls would have been lost, but he made his way to a fast 52 retired before Matthew also retired after his sixth 50 of the season. When Gary left, it must have been particularly worrying for Stockton to see his identical twin brother Mark come to the crease. Mark and Harvey got some quick runs at the end before we closed on 168 for 2, against a team with a number of players who play representative cricket.
Stockton knew they had to score fast and lost two early wickets to run outs, one a direct hit from George after he had stopped a ball going down the leg side. Jonny Carr bowled the number four and got the number five thanks to a catch from Matthew. Debutant David Bulmer came on first change and bowled a couple of tidy overs. At the other end, our secret weapon in the form of Jack Smith was introduced, he took two wickets, one caught at point by Harvey and another caught behind. Jonny Carlton took an excellent catch in the deep to give Ted his first wicket, Gary nearly took another difficult outfield catch next ball, before Ted hit the stumps with the following ball. Having announced that Ted was "hooping it", Harvey had high hopes of knocking over the tail as is his forte, he bowled the number eight before the last pair showed some resistance. Spence generously extended their stay by spilling a caught and bowled off his leg spin, before Jonny Carr took the final wicket thanks to a sharp catch in the gully by Harvey, as Stockton were dismissed for 82.
This was a real team effort, we used nine bowlers and we were missing our two county players. It is strength in depth that has made us the unbeaten league champions. Other teams have some really good players, but their top order batters have to bat cautiously because they know they have little left below them in the order and they struggle to find decent change bowlers. Nine of our players have scored over a hundred runs in the season (in last year's U15 team four did) and although we have two county bowlers, they have only taken eight of the seventy six wickets our bowlers have taken.
Well done to all those who have played for the team this season.
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