U13 Boys Indoor Cricket v TSA III

On Wednesday 8 February the U13 boys played the final game in their three match series against TSA and with the series score all square at 1-1 it was all to play for. Team captains Toby Rice and Louie Dun were selected once again to support some of the boys who had less cricketing experience and once again they led brilliantly!

St Kath’s won the toss and were tasked with setting a target. Having made 63 off of 10 overs in their first game, then 91 off of 12 overs in the second match they were looking for another improvement. The standard of bowling from the TSA boys was excellent and they had 10 different boys who all bowled consistently on the money. Openers Toby and Ollie got the boys off to a flyer. Ollie looked to deal in boundary runs while Toby just moved the ball around and rotated the strike. Fortunately for the SK boys Ollie was in rude form and was really swinging the bat hard. With both boys going so well it was really unfortunate when Toby Rice got undone to a really good delivery; he was frustrated but needn’t have been as the ball clipped the top of the off stump. Jody quickly settled into his stride with Ollie who only needed 1 more to retire. It was quite fitting when Ollie went to retirement with a maximum which brought Louie to the crease.

Jody and Louie then formed the most lucrative partnership of the game as both boys worked their way to retirement in good time and with some lovely strokes. The pair played really good quality indoor cricket nudging the ball with soft hands into the gaps and running hard for as many runs as possible. In this format you score 1 for a wall and 2 for every run between the wickets and the boys picked up a good number of 3s. Jody and Louie both retired leaving an over to face which meant that Joe and Ari had a real platform and could play with some freedom. The boys did exactly the right thing and pushed for a run which unfortunately they didn’t make. Then Joe got a straight one which sent him back to the team bench. Ezra had the strike for the final ball with Corey at the other end. The boys showed great game sense when they ran regardless on the last delivery and by putting pressure on the field, were able to cross for 2 more valuable runs taking their total to 91. This was the best score they had made in any of the previous games.

In the first 2 games the boys’ bowling had probably been their strength; however it became clear right from the word go that tonight just wasn’t going to be their night with the ball in hand! All of the bowlers, bar one really struggled to make an impact and the TSA boys really capitalised. They batted well from top to bottom but were also supported by far too many bowling extras. As is so often the case in indoor cricket wides and no-balls really make a difference. SK shelled 44 runs in wides/no balls – that’s 22 occasions where they didn’t bowl a legal delivery. In comparison TSA only gave us half as many extras and this was the difference between the two teams. All of the boys found it difficult with the ball and even those bowling legal deliveries were still going for runs. It was just looking like one of those nights!

The boys were given a glimmer of hope when Jody Quinn stepped up to bowl the 8^th over. Before his first delivery TSA needed just 2 runs to win so things were looking bleak to say the least! Not only did Jody only concede just 1 run, he also picked up 2 wickets in this brilliant spell. You could see that Jody was pleased with his performance as were the rest of his team mates. However with 2 overs still to bowl and the scores level defeat was inevitable. Regardless the boys bowled the last 2 overs and managed to grab a third wicket – Jody again with a little bit of magic in the form of a direct hit run out. The TSA boys finished on 112 and thoroughly deserved their victory.

Man of the match was an easy one – Jody had retired for the first time having scored an impressive 17 runs. He didn’t need any luck at all as he worked the ball around with a real confidence. Having stepped up with the ball Jody then did some real damage with the ball almost earning himself a double wicket maiden! He wasn’t done there either – with one last run out in the field. A fantastic all round performance from a really talented all round sportsman who hasn’t played a huge amount of indoor cricket at all!

My thanks to the TSA boys who have all made the trip out to us on three occasions giving 14 different year 7 and 8 boys the opportunity of representing the school and getting some indoor cricket experience. All of the boys have learnt a huge amount about the game over the last few weeks. A special mention again to Louie and Toby for their leadership!

Well done to everyone who has been involved.

Mr Cook