Scorecard

Falkland v Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham Firebirds U11's on Sun 17 May 2015 at 10.00
Thatcham Town Cricket Club Lost

Match report On Sunday the U-11 Firebirds made the short journey to our local rivals Falkland hoping to breathe some fire into their league campaign. The skipper Robbie Bovington duly won the toss and inserted Falkland into bat on a slightly damp looking wicket. George Britter and Ben Cavanagh launched the opening attack on the Falkland batsmen and got the Firebirds off to a hot start, taking two wickets in the first four overs while keeping runs to a minimum. Freddie Dobson and Mahin Shah then followed up with some solid bowling, each claiming a deserved wicket in their spells. After 8 overs the Firebirds had Falkland on the ropes at 219 for 4.

Falkland were not done, however, and set about rebuilding their innings by batting sensibly and taking runs where they could. Despite their caution Ethan Wilding managed to pick up his first wicket of the season, bowling Falkland’s number 6 with an arrow straight delivery. Grace Bird also contributed strongly, conceding a miserly 9 runs in her two overs. Although the Firebirds continued to bowl well, so the Falklands batsmen knuckled down and steadily accumulated runs in the second half of their innings. Joseph Parry and Ben Whitford both showed great improvement in the consistency of their bowling and Ben was rewarded with a wicket (stumping) in his very first game of cricket…..not many can lay claim to that feat.

Robbie Bovington and Henry Healy then bowled tidily at the death to make sure Falkland did not get away, with Robbie taking a wicket and Henry bowling the tightest spell of the match conceding just four runs in his two overs (one of which was a maiden. Special mention also goes to Mahin for some brilliant swooping fielding on the boundary which prevented Falkland from scoring more than they perhaps deserved. The Falkland innings finished on 273 for 7 and there was an air of quiet confidence amongst the Firebirds during the juice interval, a confidence, it must be said, that was shared by the coaches.

Henry and Robbie opened up and did a brilliant job for the first two overs in keeping out the best bowling that Falkland had to offer. Robbie batted very sensibly in trying to see off Falkland’s opening bowler and Henry scored the first runs off the bat in the Firebirds innings. Unfortunately the calmness up to that point evaporated somewhat with a slight communication breakdown in running between the wickets, resulting in three run outs in the space of seven balls. If ever a lesson were needed in the importance of loud, clear calling from the batsmen then this was it! At this point the Firebirds’ feathers were truly ruffled but Joseph and Ben set about reconstructing the innings, taking care not to lose any wickets during their stay at the crease.

Ethan and Grace then worked hard to get the scoreboard moving but found it difficult to beat the Falkland fielders, some of whom seemed to be under a spell when chanting ‘walking in, walking in’ even during the bowler’s run up! It was the same story with Mahin and Freddie who tried to play their shots but again found it difficult to get the ball away in the face of some tight bowling from Falkland.

Our last pair had a mountain to climb, needing to score a mammoth 63 runs from their four overs at the crease! Yet the scale of the task fazed neither Ben nor George and they proceeded to take the Falkland bowlers apart with some lovely clean hitting – they even exceeded the required run rate in their first over in the middle. Sadly it was not to be though, and despite amassing 45 runs during their stay at the wicket, the Firebirds fell to earth 22 runs short of their target.

Nonetheless it was a very encouraging performance from the players, all of whom are showing progress since the beginning of the season. With a bit more hard work, application and concentration this group of players may yet blaze their way to victory in the coming weeks.

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham Firebirds U11's Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 8 wickets
0
251		        
Henry Healy Bowled  1
Robbie Bovington Bowled  0
Joseph Parry Not Out  0
Ben Whitford Not Out  1
Ethan Wilding Bowled  0
Grace Bird Bowled  2
Mahin Shah Bowled  2
Freddie Dobson Not Out  2
Ben Cavanagh Not Out  13
George Britter Bowled  14

Falkland Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Falkland Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 7 wickets
0
273 (2.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Thatcham Town Cricket Club Thatcham Firebirds U11's Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
George Britter2.00717.003.50
Ben Cavanagh2.00515.002.50
Freddie Dobson2.0014114.007.00
Mahin Shah2.0012112.006.00
Ethan Wilding2.0020120.0010.00
Grace Bird2.00900.004.50
Joseph Parry2.00700.003.50
Robbie Bovington2.0011111.005.50

  • Umpire :
    Simon Lewis
  • Scorer :
    Alistair Howell