Sonning & Carvil vs Wargrave U13s

Wargrave batted first and were immediately in trouble, losing three early wickets to some good inswing bowling. Alex Bishop (23) and Sami Colbourne (25) then put on a great little partnership to take Wargrave past 60 in the first 9 overs, but once out, the batting fell away and the team was bowled out in the 17th over having scored only 85.

The bowling and fielding more than made up for the frailty in the batting, however. Hash Sulaman’s four overs only went for 5 runs. Matty Edgar picked up two important early wickets. Emma Walker, Sami Colbourne and Andrew Hattey all bowled solidly, picking up one wicket each, and Alex Leigh and George Cook finished things off well with a few tight overs at the end.

But it was the team’s fielding performance that really shone out and was particularly praised by the opposition. Wargrave stopped everything that came their way and made sure that the opposition had to fight for every run. Sonning only managed to reach 76 for 6 in their full 20 overs, meaning that Wargrave won by 9 runs.

There were a number of thing that I would like to particularly highlight:
- The running between the wickets was excellent. I don’t mind the odd run out each game provide that you all really go for your singles and push hard for every extra run. You all did this really well today.
- The batting was positive. You went for your shots, which puts the pressure on the opposition. Maybe some of you need to be a bit more careful with the good, straight deliveries, but it was great to see most of you have the confidence to really hit out at the poorer deliveries.
- The bowling was very accurate – only one wide in the whole innings, which was top class! (They had 11 wides, which was the difference in the two teams.)
- The field placing by the skipper (Andrew Hattey) was spot on. The boundary was covered in the crucial areas, and there were no obvious gaps in the field which made them really work hard for their runs.
- The wicket keeping of Isaac was very influential. He got a stumping and a run out, but the fact that he stood up to most of the bowlers and caught most things very cleanly gave the whole fielding and bowling performance that bit of polish that makes all the difference.
- Last but not least, the team spirit and concentration in the field was exemplary – everyone seemed to be completely focused and supportive of their team mates, which is really important, whether you win or lose.

However, as with every game, there are things that can be improved upon:
- Fielders fielding in the deep should be on the boundary line – not 10 yards in. This is particularly important on outfields (like Sonning’s) that are fast and short. There were a few times when the ball went past some of you for four, but if you had been on the boundary line (rather than 10 yards in), you would have stopped it.
- Batters – first and foremost, you need to defend your stumps! Eight of you were bowled today, which is too many. I like positive batting, but you need to be in to have the opportunity of being positive!

All in all, this was an excellent start to the Wargrave U13’s season. We will be facing some good opposition in games to come, so we will need to raise our game, particularly on the batting side of things, but if you have the same attitude, team spirit and level of concentration as you did today in the field, it should be a very good year.

Jonathan