U13s Victorious Despite Bad Start

The U13s earned themselves a long awaited win despite an awful start to the innings of their league match against Stoke D’Abernon. Batting first on an interesting wicket at Bookham with a hard uneven outfield, the home side hoped to post a decent score. However, some very impressive early bowling from Stoke sent back four batsmen with only 14 on the board. The welcome return of Jake Raffaelli from injury saw what the team were missing as he savagely attacked the next change bowlers, hitting 32* off only 12 balls with 4 sixes. Jake was impressively supported by Ollie Nicholl, whose early focus was rewarded with a career best of 32*, and together they posted a 50+ run partnership. After their retirements, Elliot Sumitomo-Wyatt (19), Ned Cox (12*) and Ciaran Jarvis (6*)kept the momentum going in Effingham’s total of 143-5 after their 20 overs.

The key message given to the boys for fielding was to stop boundaries using appropriate techniques, and this was perhaps one of the differences between the teams. Each boy played their part in saving runs and plenty of positive encouragement was apparent, especially for some the courageous stops by Matthew Mostyn and Joey Slatter. Our bowling was competent, but what stood out was our catching and fielding. Three catches behind the wicket were pleasing, with Ollie taking two of them, and Raymond’s text book high catch at long-on was also notable. There was also Luke Whistlecroft’s ‘lucky’ run out, Ned’s three top wickets, Sam Partridge’s at the death bowling with 2 wickets, and Sam Cobb’s attempt at catching the ball with his knee! Our fielding positions were a little more better thought out this week, and our game management for the final few overs meant that Stoke just couldn’t keep up with the required run rate and finished on 130-8.

Darren Wing