Under 10's Cricket 2008

Date

Opposition

Venue  

Result 

07/5/08

Wellingborough

Away

Lost

14/5/08

Bedford Prep

Home

Lost

04/6/07

Akeley Wood

Home

Won

07/6/07

Stamford

Away

Cancelled

11/6/07

Spratton Hall

Home

Lost

18/6/07

Great Houghton

Away

Lost

25/6/07

Swanbourne House

Away

Lost

In this match we won the toss and elected to field. We bowled reasonably well and our fielding was also of a good standard limiting the opposition to only two fours in their innings of 86 for 1 wicket. This was an easily attainable score off 20 overs the run rate being just over four an over. Unfortunately we batted extremely poorly, with the exception of Ben Clarke and Charlie Chamberlayne who batted extremely sensibly, but did not accelerate fast enough to keep up with the run rate. Eventually we were all out for 55 runs which was 31 short of Kimbolton's total. The boys were disappointed but we will work hard over the coming weeks to prepare ourselves for our next match, against Wellingborough.

This was a very close encounter with both teams showing lots of enthusiasm. Wellingborough lost the toss and were put into bat scoring 80 runs off their allotted 20 overs. Only 23 of their runs came off the bat thus conceding 57 runs in extras with which I was most unimpressed. However it was still a reasonable total to chase but unfortunately only Rufus Hall batted with any conviction and he batted through the whole innings which was great. Unfortunately this was not quite enough to win this match and we narrowly lost by one run which was devastating for all the boys.

With two very dissapointing defeats behind us we were determined to show that there was room for improvement in our cricket development this term. We duly won the toss and elected to bat on what was a tiny pitch in the centre of Bedford's very large campus. Their opening bowlers where extremely quick and soon removed our openers. However, Charlie Chamberlayne dug in after this and held our innings together and, although he only scored 14 runs, without him our score would have looked very poor. We managed to scrape together 59 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in 25 overs. Bedford were never in any trouble chasing this score and managed to knock them off for the loss of of 4 wickets. We did achieve respectability in this match. It was no shame to lose to a very impressive Bedford team and we did push them all the way. This will be a difficult term for the under 10's but they are gradually improving their skills especially Ben Clarke and Charlie Chamberlayne.

This is a match I think I will never forget based on the fact that chasing a total of 66 off 25 overs, a very chaseable score, our top order had been completely annihilated leaving us on 9 for 5, soon to be 13  for 6. There was no hope, even the sky looked blue for a change.

Miraculously Charlie Chamberlayne with 36 not out and Toby Duncan steered the sinking ship home without the loss of any further wickets but with seven overs to spare.

Akeley Wood could not believe what had happened and a joyous mood changed to misery as we notched the final run with a wide ball being called by the umpire. Akeley slumped from the pitch and the Maidwell boys cartwheeled down the bank in elation. I can't speak highly enough of Charlie's extremely responsible innings which came at a time when we where in so much trouble. He batted impeccably with a straight bat and punished the bad ball with aplomb. We now move onto Stamford on Saturday on a high, but can it last?

This was always going to be a very difficult encounter with our local rivals Spratton. We knew they had an extremely strong team so we were aiming for respectability from this match more than victory. Sratton lost the toss and were put into bat by Maidwell and made 196 for 3 off their 25 overs. We knew this was a massive score and thus we required 8 runs per over which was never going to be possible for us to achieve. The news that Charlie Chamberlayne had a very bad headache and was unable to bat did not bode well. Charlie has been by far our best batsman this term and I expected a collapse without him. This did not happen in the same vein as the Akeley Wood match and we managed to scrape together 83 runs which was pleasing bearing in mind the strength and depth of Spratton's bowling attack.

This was a match that we should have won but unfortunately we did not accumulate enough runs. It was only a very small wicket with short boundaries and we needed to score at least 100 to be remotely competitive. In the end we only managed to score 74 for 8. Although we have learned how to build an innings we must also realise that we must keep the scoreboard ticking over. Great Houghton managed to knock the runs off comfortably with the loss of 4 wickets and 8 overs remaining. The main difference between the two sides was Great Houghton's ability to steal runs and put pressure on our fielders which we struggle to do in this team.

This was a match dominated by the innings of one boy who scored 76 runs in excellent fashion. He could so easily have been out for next to nothing but rode his luck and went on to batter our bowling attack. As usual we were very competitive in this game but were never likely to challenge such a high score. Our innings was yet again held together by Charlie Chamberlayne who has by far been our player of the term.