Under 10s record Colts first victory of the season at Woking and Horsell

The Baggies travelled to Woking and Horsell for the first round of the cup in their first game of the season, on a beautiful sunny morning. The Baggies team was made of up of Charlie, Yuvraj, James, Harry, Cameron, Aaryan, Christopher, Yash, Hayden and Rocco.

Hayden lost the toss, and the Baggies were inserted. Charlie opened up with Yuvraj and it was noticeable that Charlie played circumspectly and pushed the singles and also hit a 4 in his score of 7. Yuvraj, in his first game for the Baggies, scored a very creditable 9 and didn’t lose his wicket, and the pair added 18. Next in James and Harry and these two faced some straight bowling and not many loose deliveries were on offer. However, the pair pushed the singles intelligently and ran well to post a positive score. Cameron and Aaryan followed with Cameron also in his first game playing confidently and smashing a four which was very nearly a six! Aaryan also hit a couple of text book 4s to keep the total ticking over. The youngsters, Christopher and Yash followed and these two both hit fours and rotated the strike, with both scoring 8 and adding 18 between them. Last up were Rocco and Hayden. Hayden hitting three 4s in his 17 and Rocco rotating the strike well and unfortunate not to face very many deliveries. The Baggies finished on 276 which was an excellent effort in their first game of the season.

The Baggies took the field and as is customary Harry bowled the first over. Harry bowled with pace and aggression and finished with 2 overs for 8 in partnership with Charlie who took a wicket on his first delivery and bowled 2 overs for 7. An excellent opening spell from the pair. First change were Aaryan and James with James clean bowling two batsmen in his 2 overs for 10 and Aaryan sending down 2 miserly overs for 3 runs. There were 2 runouts during this period with accurate throws from Yuvraj and Rocco, and the fielding throughout was superb. At the halfway point with the score at 206 the Baggies appeared in no mood to let Woking and Horsell off the hook and Cameron, in his first ever spell executed a fantastic caught and bowled and was accurate in his 2 overs for 6 and Christopher in his first under 10 game sent down 2 tidy overs for 7. Yuvraj, also in his first spell bowled a maiden in his 2 overs for 2 and Yash clean bowled a batsman with a Yorker and took another wicket thanks to an excellent catch by Charlie in his 2 overs for 6. Last up came Rocco and Hayden. Rocco also took a wicket in his 2 overs for 7 and Hayden bowled 2 overs for 1 run including a maiden. So some good paced bowling at the death and good bowling all round from the Baggies – well done to all. Woking and Horsell finished on 220.

So a well earned victory for the Under 10s in their first outing. With three under 9s in the team, and several making debuts and playing their first ever hard ball cricket match this was a very encouraging performance. I am especially pleased with the way Cameron, Christopher and Yuvraj performed in their first under 10 game, and it must be remembered that although he is in his second year of under 10 cricket, Yash is also still an under 9, and gave a strong performance with bat and ball.

Playing as we will in the West Surrey Youth League, there will be much tougher challenges ahead, but for now we should take great pride in today’s performance, and look forward to the next game. Player of the match went to Cameron for his excellent debut, and for his well-executed caught-and-bowled and for nearly hitting a six. Well done Cameron!

A big thank you to Baiju for taking the team and steering them to victory.