U9s Win the League!

Richmondshire (286-1) 281 net beat North Stainley (294-3) 279 net by only 2 runs!!!

Match Report brought to you by our reporter for the day, Joseph White

Photograph kindly provided by Sarah Cox Photography

North Stainley won the toss and chose to field first.

The first pair of Issac Bottomley and Raam Raj got us going with 16 off their 4 overs.  The highlight for the fans, players, scorer and manager was Raam’s sweep to backward square leg for 4 runs.  A solid bit of defensive batting from our second pair kept the score moving without losing any wickets.  James Cox and Eddy Player have really got going together this season and have become an excellent partnership!

Max Percival (13) and Tom Bromirskyj(6) got going and moved the score on by another 32 runs. This included 4 boundaries, without losing a wicket.  The final pair of Joseph White and Jack Platt have enjoyed each others’ company at the crease this season. Another solid performance added 23 further runs (including 3 boundary shots) taking the final score up to a competitive 281, with only a single wicket being lost throughout the innings.

Then Richmond were bowling and it was North Stainley’s turn to bat. The boys were aware of their slogger (named Kitty) and set the field back for her when she came in, in their third pair.

Tom bowled very well in the first over to give everyone that hope that we could win, conceding only 2 runs as well as a well fielded run out.

With the score moving along slowly, Max’s bowling got us yet another run out in the eighth over only conceding 3 runs with some typically miserly bowling.

With two overs to go, North Stainley required 11 runs to win.  Enter Jack Platt.  Accurate bowling limited the batters to only 5 singles and then Jack brought the ball across the batter to take out her off-stump! This wicket motivated our team and encouraged us all and made us all the more determined (especially the parents and Mrs Cox) to win the game and the league!

In the last over you could feel the tension in the air and everyone had their hearts in their mouths. Up stepped Max Percival to bowl our last over, knowing they still needed 11 runs to win.  Accurate bowling and good running meant that 4 runs were required from the final ball.  It was silent as Max ran up and bowled. The batter could only manage a short tap to get a single. With the field set back, Max fielded off his own bowling and when he was told to hold the ball, he slipped over! Then, the boys all piled on Max and shook the opposition’s hands. When everyone had shaken hands, we posed for a photograph and celebrated!

What a great game – a two run victory!  Next time we play together we will be at the finals day and we hope to be bringing the trophy home to Richmond!!!