With 12 very nervous boys we turned up at Slough CC on a
glorious sunny day to play Royal Ascot in the Berkshire U11’s County Final.
Charlie Weston won the toss and elected to field, and with
the formalities done we took to the field.
Thomas Hughes and Hugo Holmes opened the bowling on what
looked like a reasonable track. With some very accurate bowling and good field
placement we settled down to what we thought would be a long day in the field. However,
in Hugo’s second over with some good line and length bowling he rattled the
stumps of the opening bat, and the score was 23 for 1 off 4 overs.
With a change of bowling Sam Wills with some very accurate
bowling, bowled another 2 and at 10 overs we had them 56 for 3 off 10. Then the
wickets started to tumble with a great catch from Thomas Hughes off Tom Clipston’s
bowling and a suburb bit of fielding from Toby Saich for a run out they were
suddenly 6 for 79 off 14. Smelling blood Charlies brought back his openers and
the next 2 overs saw another 2 wickets from both Thomas and Hugo.
Bertie Darke and Sam Wills quickly despatched the tail
enders and Woodhay came off the field having bowled the opposition out for 106
runs with some very accurate bowling and good fielding from the entire,
confident of a relative easy chase.
The message was given to the boys to take their time, heads
down and remember the basics, block the straight ball and hit the bad ball.
Our two opening batmen Hugo and Thomas took to the field and
faced some very accurate bowling from Ascot’s opening pair but held their nerve
and started to hit the bad balls to get the score board ticking over. Unfortunately,
Thomas was bowled for 9 in the 4 over having nearly seen the openers off. The
captain Charlie Weston was next in and unfortunately was bowled first ball to
some great Ascot bowling, next in Toby Saich lasted a further over and was also
bowled by a quality delivery. Suddenly 3 for 20 off 5 overs, don’t panic!!
Next in was Bertie Darke and with Hugo settled the ship and
proceeded to add 20 runs to the score before Bertie was caught by an
outstanding catch. Hugo was still battling away with some very disciplined
batting but dispatching any bad delivery for valuable runs. Hugo was joined by
Sam Wills and the score quickly accelerated to the 60 before Hugo had to retire
on 25. Sam was joined by Rory Saich and the pair put on more valuable runs
until Rory was judged LBW when hit on the thigh pad. Score 87 for 5 off 15
overs. We should still be OK! Sam went for 19 again well caught by a
disciplined fielding team. 93 for 6 off 16 overs. Oscar Fox added 4 runs before
being run out and them Tom Clipston hit a magnificent 4 he too was bowled. That
left us 8 for 102 off 18 overs. Bertie Donald was providing some excellent
running between wickets and picking up some valuable byes which got the score
up to 106, all square. Last in was Jack Robbins who unfortunately was unable to
add to the score, however we had Hugo who was able continue after retirement.
Bertie hit the winning run off the first ball of the last over to give East
Woodhay a sensational victory.
The game was played in excellent spirit by both teams and a
great day was had by both players and very proud parents.
Can I thanks Ascot for a great game and Slough CC for
hosting the day. Also, my thanks to Pip Holmes for scoring and Phil Laurence
for his scoring tuition and also for travelling down to support the team.