u11s extend winning league run against Peppard

After a tough friendly and loss against a strong Sonning team on Sunday, would the boys bounce back against Peppard in the league? Yes.

Apart from an initial few boundaries from the Peppard opening batsmen, the Wargrave boys put in a strong bowling and fielding performance to take a grip of the match. Highlights from Sam W with two great run outs to accompany his caught and bowled wicket, plus wickets for Zack P and 2 each for Kieran and Joseph. And in addition the boys made a lot of good decisions in the field and backed up well.

So, all that meant Peppard scored 224 for the loss of 12 wickets.

3 overs in to their innings the Wargrave boys had passed the target, and this week there was no clatter of wickets to pull the scoring back. Achint and Freddie led the way with the bat, scoring 22 and 20 respectively, with boundaries also coming from Kieran, Zack, Sam W, Finlay and Joseph. In addition to the big hitting there was also good calling and running between the wickets from all the boys - all of which led to a total of 336 for 2 wickets. A fine effort also from our guest u9s, Sam B and Finlay, both of whom showed some quality play.

A good all round performance, to follow up from the Sonning game on Sunday, comments on which have been provided by Laurence below ......

‘The U11’s came across their biggest test of the season so far in this friendly against a strong Sonning side on an artificial track at Charvil.

With only a squad of 9 players, Wargrave were put into bat first. Facing a strong bowling attack, they lost two wickets in the first over which set a bit of a tone for the rest of the innings. That said, faith was restored a little with a good performance by Jago and Zac, as the second pair worked well together alternating strike and keeping the score ticking over. Sadly, wickets continued to fall as the next three pairs experienced some excellent bowling from the Sonning attack. The boys kept going and all pairs contributed well with combinations of boundries and runs complemented by good calling and hard running. Nevertheless, although they huffed and puffed they were ultimately undone by the number of wickets conceded, leaving a low target for Sonning to beat.

Despite the apparent disappointment in their batting performance (which wasn’t really that bad), this didn’t deter the boys. Following the break, and with Coach Andy’s challenge ‘to keep the number of wides to less than twelve’ at the forefront of their minds, they approached the challenge with new vigour and enthusiasm, determined to make it as difficult as possible for the batting side. With the field offering excellent support to the bowlers, displaying sharp reactions and discipline in backing up, they set about frustrating the Sonning batsman. Wickets began to fall with regularity (though, alas, not as many as Sonning) with Jago, Joseph, Zack P and Kieran taking two or more each. The good bowling was also complemented by some excellent fielding with run outs due to sharp fielding from Ash, Zac and Dylan and the rest of the field. The highlight, however, must go to Kieran for a diving catch low to his right (in the penultimate over, I think?). A situation in which he always looked second best yet against the odds he dived and held on to take a fabulous catch.

It was a really good performance from the boys today. Whilst the result didn’t go our way I think there was a lot of positives to take from the game. Not least the boys’ application and desire to pick their heads up and fight their way back into the match. Well done to everyone.’