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| Cricket Under 8 Team 'Blog' |
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Aldro (away) 2.5.07 On Wednesday 2nd May the tight knit U8 XII embarked on a pilgrimage to Aldro. Eagerly anticipating a twelve over Pairs match, and accompanied by their coach Mr Carder and Mrs Norville, spirits were high. As we entered the lush summer countryside surrounding Aldro our temperament became focussed and determined. Winning the toss our esteemed captain (Brendon) decided to put us into bat; our aim to set an insummountable target. Brendon and Ben accumulated the highest scoring partnership of 36 runs, which along with Max and Harry’s 14 helped us to the respectable score of 282. The boundry was quite tight and many runs were scored via the boundry rather than running between the wickets. Aldro chased the total well and we suffered the same generous wide and no ball scoring we had received whilst batting. Notable overs were bowled by Brendon who took a wicket giving away just 1 run and Ben who also gave away just 1 run. Both Michael and Max had very good overs and Adam did some good fielding on the boundry. Aldro managed to attain a total of 292 and thus alas we lost by a mere 9 runs. As usual the whole team showed fantastic team spirit and did the school proud. We will now work towards greater consistency looking forward to Aldro coming here for the return match. St Neot's (away) 9.5.07 On Wednesday 9th May the U8 XII took a trip down the road to our long standing rivals St Neot's. Our team’s dogged single mindedness meant that no rain would put us off (it rained heavily), and thus we pressed on. We were met and greeted by a couple of lads from St Neot's and taken down to the pitch, it was a good U8 size with a natural grass wicket. The umpires had the usual discussion over the style of Pairs cricket we were playing; 3 overs per pair was agreed on and just 1 run per wide and no ball. We lost the toss and were put into bat first so went out fighting, ready to put some runs on the board and show them what’s what. The wicket was with the bowlers that day and because of the rain even our most gritty performances provided little harvest. We scored a total of 61 runs but lost 8 wickets (-40) giving us grand total of just 221 (Pairs starts with 200). Ben and Brendon were the only partnership to not lose a wicket. We knew it would be challenging to keep them below 221 but were determined for a win. The rain carried on all afternoon and fielding was tough but we struggled on. We needed some fantastic wicket keeping because of the fast wicket and even faster bowling. This was made trickier by the slightly harder ball and the rain. Several players took on this role and all put on a brave performance. Hal at silly mid prevented a couple of boundries that in the end proved crucial. Our bowlers were immense, Max and Michael really showed great improvements adding to our group of strong bowlers. In the end there was one over left and just 2 runs for St Neot's to win. The pressure was on, and the whole team, though cold and wet, held their nerve and focussed putting the pressure back onto the batsmen. Ben remained cool, calm and collected as he bowled the last over with several leg spins. On the second last ball of the match the score was tied, the leg spun ball hit the top of the bat and flew behind missing the slip. The batsmen had to run and the race was on for a run out thrown in by Brendon. He was out! And thus in the end we won by 5 runs in what turned out to be a very epic but very wet match. Congratulations boys you did us proud. Let’s now continue to focus on shot choice, protecting the stumps with the forward defence, and greater consistency in the field.
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