Match Report
New Forest U12 v New Forest U11
1 June 2008 1400 start - Woodside Park, Lymington
A short-notice challenge was issued by the New Forest U12 team and we managed to raised a team in around 18 hours - great response and enthusiasm. The match was reduced to 35 overs per innings.
The u12s batted first and made steady progress but wickets soon started to fall. Only 3 otf their batsmen managed to get into double figures while 4 fell for a duck. The u12 team were dismissed in the 35th over for 114 runs, of which they scored 70. The extras count for the U11 team had risen to 44! The fielding was energetic and enthusiastic throughout the innings and contributed significantly to the control exerted on the batting team.
The u11s went into the mid-innings break knowing they had given themselves a serious chance of winning the match. The top order played really well, batting steadily and building their innings steadily against a high quality attack, the extra year showed most clearly in the bowling pace. This is particularly pleasing as we had failed to achieve this in recent matches. Joe Q looked in great touch and made an impressive 23 before running himself out. 5 batters reached double figures and the total was reached in the 31st over, with 2 wickets in hand. In contrast, 95 of these runs came from the bat with 21 from extras.
This was a great performance from the u11 team, a thoroughly deserved victory after the disappointments of the festival games. Well done all.
Thanks to Lee for getting the match under way as I tracked across the forest from a late-running club game, Andy and Donny for umpiring and to Julian for scoring.