U9Â MATCH REPORTS 2022
WISBOROUGH GREEN U9S V STORRINGTON U9S
May 9th 2022
The Under 9s had their first away league game of the season against Wisborough Green on Monday 9th May in fair weather. The field conditions affected play as recent drainage work had led to large areas being reseeded and hence left to grow longer than ideal hence making the outfield slow.. The boundary was adjusted a little to compensate but the best route to the boundary was going to be aerial!
Rowan won the toss and elected to bowl. Charlie and Harry opened the bowling with a steady display including a wicket taken by Harry though the score did tick along to 220. Rouben and Samuel then followed with some good bowling that restricted the scoring to 5 off the bat and Rouben bowled out both batters. Then came Archie and Bertie to produce an outstanding spell of bowling that was not fully appreciated at the time. Their 4 overs produced zero wides, zero no bowls, a wicket each and a total of just 3 runs. Closer inspection of the score sheets shows that Archie bowled a wicket maiden followed by another maiden. Excellent stuff! This performance put the Wisborough Greens score into reverse leaving them on 220. This is when rookie pair Jack and Oscar joined the fray. The highlights of their spell were 3 wickets for Jack (not bad on a debut!) and for Oscar, a spectacular caught and bowled from his second competitive bowl in cricket! The final pairing of Henry and Rowan then stepped up to bowl with quite a lot to live up to. Needless to say they did, by restricting the scoring, bowling straight and by Rowan taking 4 wickets including 2 with consecutive balls.! All this left Wisborough on 221, including the loss of 65 runs from wickets falling.
Turning to batting, the opening pair of Charlie and Harry soon settled in and each scored fine sixes. Together they took the score on to 227 and Harry would end up top scorer with an unbeaten 14.. Rouben and Samuel came in and the score moved nicely on, aided by a pair of fours from Samuel. Archie and Bertie followed and kept the scoring ticking along, taking the game steadily away from Wisborough. Jack and Oscar came to the crease and sealed a highly creditable debut game by sharing 15 runs off the bat, including a four each. Final Pairing of Henry and Rowan carried on the good work by keeping the score motoring without loss. Both made fours (in Rowan's case 3 of them). All that restricted more scoring off the bat was the number of wides bowled. All this contributed to the final score of Wisborough Green 221, Storrington 338.
U9S SCC V WEST CHILTINGTON & THAKEHAM
May 2nd 2022
The Under 9s had their first league game of the season at home to West Chiltington & Thakeham on Bank Holiday Monday in fair weather. This is a pairs league with scoring starting at 200 runs for each team and deductions of 5 for each wicket.
Storrington won the toss and elected to bat. Charlie and Harry opened the batting with a sound display of well placed shots including 3 fours. Together they took the score on to 235 after their 4 overs without losing a wicket. This included 23 runs off the bat. Fourteen of these were made by Charlie which would turn out to be the top individual score. Reggie and Samuel then took the crease and although a wicket went down, together they kept the score ticking over, helped by a lovely 4 from Samuel. Archie and Bertie then stepped up to face some mixed bowling - very good to rather wide. Unfortunately a couple resulted in wickets falling. Still the score ticked on to 246. Next to face were Ashton and Leighton. Despite losing his wicket, Ashton made a creditable 10 runs including a 4. Leighton batted steadily and made 6 runs. The final pairing of Henry and Rowan came to the crease and made sure Storrington posted a good target by taking 18 off the bat with a 4 to Henry and a 4 and a mighty 6 to Rowan. The innings ended with Storrington on 292.
Charlie and Harry bowled very well with only 4 runs scored off the bat after their 4 overs.Reggie and Samuel also restricted scoring with their spell and Reggie took a wicket with his last ball. Archie and Bertie then took over and were notable for bowling only one wide and no no bowls between them. In addition, Archie clean bowled a batter. Ashton and Leighton then took over and restricted one of the batters beautifully though the other opponent stepped up and made 15 runs although this was negated in part by Ashton taking a wicket. So it was all to play for with West Chilt on 270 with just 2 left to bat so needing 23 to win. Henry and Rowan then stepped up to bowl. Unfortunately this was when West Chilt launched their secret weapon - batter No 9. He was a very competent and strong batter and managed to take 21 of the bat in his first 6 balls including a pair of sixes! That one over took the scores level and although a valiant containment operation by Henry and Rowan ensued to restrict scoring in the final 3 overs (including taking the wicket of the No 9), the honours went to West Chiltington & Thakeham on this occasion as they finished on 309. Just 17 runs ahead!
I was immensely impressed by the resilience and commitment of the Storrington team and I’m sure this bodes well for the matches to come. I would like to thank all those who gave assistance, especially Daniel Grainge who managed to make something of my inconsistent umpire signals from the middle! Also a big thank you to all those who turned out to support. Our first away match is on Monday 9th at the lovely Wisborough Green. I’m in contact with their team manager and awaiting confirmation of times etc. Hope to see you all there!
Brian