U15 Boys Cricket v Broadoak

On Tuesday 23 May the U15 boys hopped into the minibus to make the short journey down the road to Easton CC for a 9-a-side friendly fixture against Broadoak School. The weather was perfect and the boys were really looking forward to playing some cricket as they had lost opportunities earlier in the year due to weather.

Matthew CRUTCHLEY, George HARRIS, Kaie LAWRENCE, Dexter MOTT, Caolán PEARCE (c), Alfie RENDELL, Louis STRATTON, Alexander WILSON, Hao Hao ZHANG

SK lost the toss and sent opening pair Lawrence and Wilson out to the middle with Lawrence facing. Kaie’s cricket has really come on over the last year and he has developed into a really handy all-rounder. Despite their ability the pair were a little slow to start and with only 10 overs to play the pressure was building. Pressure often tells in cricket and with the help of a little natural variation Kaie was unable to keep a straight one out which brought captain Caolán Pearce to the crease.

Alex had a good look at a couple before getting away with his first single, closely followed by his second. As it would turn out these were the only runs that Alex would have to run between the wickets before retiring! His first boundary was 6 that saw the first match ball disappear. Then he helped himself to another monstrous six off of the next delivery before pulling the ball hard for four runs. This left him on 18 and you could see just milliseconds before he struck his final delivery that it was going to be a maximum. It actually turned out to be a humungous 6 down over cow and well into the threes that surround the ground on that side. Alex retired on 24 and was an expensive luxury as he lost three match balls with three massive sixes! If Alex keeps playing cricket for the school then I might have to buy some shares in cricket ball manufacturers!

Having watched and enjoyed Alex bat, Caolán was joined at the crease by Matty who he imagined would continue in much the same manner! As a matter of fact it was Caolán who went first and after running four singles to get Alex and then Matty on strike, Caolán hit four consecutive boundary fours to retire on 20. The run rate was really healthy and with Matty still at the crease the boys were hoping for a big score. George Harris came in to bat alongside him and is really proficient at rotating the strike. Matty has been batting really well at the start of this year but wasn’t finding the going easy on this occasion. Tough going for Matty is still scoring 12 off of 10 deliveries but eventually he was caught out which meant that Louis and George would bring the innings to a close. I was really impressed by the way that both boys took the runs that were on offer to them at the end of the innings. The both worked the ball into the gaps, ran hard and communicated well to bring the SK innings to a close on 84. Caolán gave his approval as Louis and George walked off and the boys took to the field confident that they could defend their total.

Broadoak opened with a really accomplished batting pair who both got off to a good start. It wasn’t until the first bowling change that the first wicket fell and it came about after some brilliant glovemanship from keeper Stratton. Harris is renowned for his variation which on this occasion bamboozled the batsman allowing keeper Louis Stratton to whip the bails off with the Broadoak opener out of his ground. Matty Crutchley was responsible for the next wicket after he sent the stumps cartwheeling out of the ground after a quick and straight delivery.

The first change bowlers had really done the job for SK but Matty wasn’t finished there! After finishing his over you could have forgiven him for taking a breather out in the field. A tight call for one gave Matty the opportunity to attack the ball which he did, firing it into the gloves of Stratton who took the bails off for the second successful time of the afternoon. The final wicket was a big one and was the Broadoak opener who had batted brilliantly throughout their innings and was on 19 just about to retire. Kaie Lawrence was responsible for the wicket and just used the pitch to great effect to get his reward. All done and Broadoak finished on 69 which gave SK the victory.

Man of the match was a tricky one with a number of contenders. Alex Wilson for a brilliant batting display that included 3 maximums, one of which was a huge hit! George Harris for making the all-important first breakthrough and picking up vital runs at the backend of the innings. However the accolade goes to Louis Stratton for an excellent all-round performance that just screamed to me that this young man has made huge progress in terms of his cricket this year. Louis has developed into a really talented wicket keeper batsmen who demonstrated some great glove work in this game as well as keeping the scoreboard going in the middle order – great work Mr Stratton and thoroughly deserved.

Well done gentlemen – a really enjoyable afternoon if not a little short. Plenty more cricket to come this year!

Mr Cook