Bagshot U10s versus North Hants Girls – 14/07/2016

Bagshot hosted the ladies of North Hants on Thursday. Our young team was made up of Aaryan, Yash, Chris, Sam, Benedikt, Jonny, Harry and Anay. Aaryan won the toss and invited the girls to bat as a few of their players were stuck in Air Show traffic. Jonny opened the innings with a maiden and bowled 2 accurate overs for only 3 runs. Benedikt struggled a little with his line, but sent down some testing deliveries interspersed with the odd wide, and was replaced by Anay who bowled 2 overs for only 2 with a wicket clean bowled. Harry bowled 2 overs for 8 with a wicket thanks to a very good catch behind by Yash, and Sam bowled accurately and with pace in his 2 overs with 2 wickets, thanks to an excellent caught and bowled, and an outstanding catch in the deep by Benedikt. Well bowled Sam and well caught Sam and Benedikt! Yash bowled with pace but struggled a little with his length up the hill, in 2 overs for 10 with the odd no-ball thrown in, and after passing the gloves to Yash, Aaryan brought himself on to bowl, sending down two excellent overs for 6 with no extras, and also executing a run out. Chris also excelled once his laces were done up, in his 2 pacey overs for 8 with a wicket clean bowled. The North Hants girls finished on 261 for 6, a very respectable total.
After biscuits Aaryan assembled his team and reminded them they would need to bat well to overhaul the girls’ total. He sent out Yash and Christopher first and these two added 24 without losing a wicket, which was pleasing. Yash hit a boundary to top score with 10, and with Chris scoring 6 and the pair running with purpose a good start was made in pursuit of the total. The next pair of Jonny and Benedikt faced the best of the North Hants bowling, but with Jonny hitting a boundary and Benedikt defending some straight and challenging deliveries, the pair made a positive contribution to keep the score moving in the right direction. Captain Aaryan and Sam came in next with both boys hitting 4s, and running quick singles when on offer. Sam was unlucky not to face many deliveries, but still scored 7 without losing a wicket and Aaryan 6 – a very creditable partnership. Despite the loss of a couple of wickets, the pair added 17 to get the Baggies total to 244, still 18 short of their victory target. Enter Anay (U7), and Harry (U8), our final pair tasked with getting us over the line. The target victory of 18 looked a tall order, but these two have batted together in the under 8s all season and have developed a good understanding in running between the wickets. They set about chasing down the total with Harry hitting a boundary in his 6 and Anay scoring 4, with neither boys losing a wicket and running a succession of singles and byes. The pair had the highest partnership of 29, which is pleasing for players who are so young – well done to the youngsters. The Baggies finished on 273 for 5.
So a win for our young team, but more importantly some hard ball exposure for those who haven’t had much game time this year, which will stand us in good stead for next season. More importantly, a pleasing performance all round. Aaryan captained smartly and both Yash and Aaryan kept wicket tidily. The bowling was sound, but we must reduce our wide count. In batting, we must learn not to ball-watch when we are running between the wickets. Our sole focus must be to get down the other end and slide our bat over the line – we must not stop half way down and turn to see where the ball is! We must also learn to back-up when we are at the non-striking end, and also back-up the wicket keeper and bowler in the field. However, overall, a sound performance with many of our players in only their second or third hard ball game.
Player of the match is never easy, but there were several contenders including Anay, Yash, Sam and Jonny. In the end it went to Benedikt for his superb catch in the deep – well caught Benedikt!