The U13’s have had another week of success following our initial two league victories with wins over the ‘Grays’ – Grayswood last Sunday at home and Grayshott away on Thursday evening.

Grayswood arrived at Elstead CC in the top three of the table and with an old team mate of mine at Brook managing their side we expected a tougher test than we have experienced to date. We won the toss and skipper Nathan decided ECC would have a bowl. CLM opened briskly much to the surprise of their opening pair and seemed a little too quick for them. His figures of 2-2-0-2 confirmed that! Stokesy enjoyed his new role as opening bowler and picked up a wicket cheaply and was more than ably supported by Sam, Nathan, Will each taking a wicket for few runs. Slats mopped up their tail (note Mrs Stokes) getting a wicket with the first ball of his second over after Jambo and Will had bowled accurately and economically too.

Champagne moment in the field was Jambo’s catch at short backward square (sounds like Michael Gove!) which was from the top of the very top drawer – remarkable! Grayswood all out for 41 – oh dear.

Stokesy and Ollie Ryman (playing up from the U11’s) opened the batting and to be honest were never in any trouble. Both batsman were asked to retire to give someone else a chance Stokesy on 13 and young Ollie on 17. Imagine my surprise therefore when Chopper came out accompanied by Sam! Yes he really needs time at the crease!!! They finished it off with 4 and 3 respectively pushing some nice singles around the wicket. All done and dusted in the 10th over – Elstead 42-0.

Thanks goes to Andrew for scoring and helping set up along with all parents who helped.

On to Grayshott! This game was played on an astro turf wicket. In general this means batting should be a lot easier than bowling. Grayshott won the toss and decided to bat – Stokesy skipper for this one. CLM looked sharp again but he took the first wicket of Elstead Sharks footballer Joe G with his slower ball – good thinking Charlie! Nathan opened with CLM and after an excellent first over came in for a bit of stick – no bother. The wicket played as true as can be. Enter skipper Stokes into the fray. Not a good start Jack! But boy did he make up for it with his second over. Three wickets in four balls to record his first three wicket maiden – great work Jack! He even had the presence of mind to get the first two, bowl a dot ball and t get the third. Had he got all three with consecutive balls then cricket tradition dictates that Mrs Stokes would have been dipping into the old purse and buying all the players a drink – very thoughtful Jack! Sam came on and very unusually offered up a couple of chicken and mushroom pies which were duly dispatched. He then found his length and took a wicket (CLM showing Chopper what to do when the ball comes to you in the air off the bat – CATCH IT!!!). Kish came on and bowled his normal tidy stuff picking up two wickets including that of the dangerous Drake who scored 34 (the second highest scorer being extras!). The legend that is Ed Shaw was put on to bowl by the skipper. Another wicket maiden! What else would you expect! Great stuff Ed. Jambo chipped in with an over and then Will cleaned up with a beautiful ball pitching on leg and taking middle – after a strange quasi appeal for LBW via what can only be described as a gurning face staring at me but no words coming out! He said he wanted to get the guy out properly and duly obliged.

Grayshott all out for 65.

Routine performance for CLM and Sam who have forged a good partnership, scoring well and running well between the wickets. Sam put their attack to the sword after having a look and with 7 fours finished on 37 not out (average must be fairly high now Sam?). He was very well supported by CLM who finished on 21 not out including a couple of fours and a six. Elstead cruised to 68-0 off 7 overs.

this match was played on Thursday evening and was thought to be our toughest test to date – it was not to be! Another great performance from the team assured us another comfortable victory against a side with a few decent players in.

CLM was skipper for this one and on winning the toss decided to have a bowl much to the delight of a rather confident skipper from Hambledon! Although Hambledon tried to be aggressive with their shots from the start they were very quickly 27-5 off 6 overs! Even though their only player to make double figures (Felix 20) tried to stop the slide, he couldn’t, and they finished on 57 all out from just twelve overs. CLM opened with a lively spell and picked up 3 wickets, ably supported by Stokesy. 1st change saw Sam put in 3 overs of accurate off spin bowling their number 6 with a beauty. 2nd change saw Chopper come on to bowl two tidy overs picking up another wicket through a run out by our skipper with a great throw. Ed came on in support with Will backing him up with a tidy over taking two wickets. Young Joe Lincoln then came onto bowl his first over and after bowling a first ball ‘sighter’ got the final wicket with their top scoring giving an easy chance to CLM at mid on.

Sam opened our batting with Ollie who has not been able to play in our opening matches and lack of match practice showed when he got a golden duck from a very good ball from their opening bowler and captain. In came Chopper with our score on 1 for 1. The plan was to take our time, stay at the crease and the runs will come. And they did. Chopper and Sam played a clever game and got closer and closer to the total with Sam playing the dominant role with Jack supporting him whilst looking for ones and twos. Sadly the opposition started being a bit silly (I can only think out of embarrassment) and were messing about behind the wicket as they knew they were on for crushing defeat. With the scores level poor old Chopper holed out to midwicket. The Elstead skipper came to the crease to renew his blossoming partnership with little Dutch. Sam, professional to the end, ignored all the silliness around him and offered his batting mate advice to make sure we finished them off. CLM duly obliged off his first ball which was called a no ball but was dispatched to the cover boundary anyway. Elstead 62 for 2 off 8.4 overs – another resounding victory.

As I stated earlier, it was another very good team performance but on this occasion I have to make a special mention to Sam for his outstanding concentration and application to make sure we did the job whilst all the silliness was going on around him – very well done Sam, I was impressed (and you know how often that happens!)

Well done everyone and thank you as ever to Sharon for scoring and all the helpers that packed stuff away and helped get stuff sorted – all very much appreciated.

And apologies to Rupert! I didn’t get the photo I promised! Sharon please remind me at the next game.

Thanks to Sharon for scoring and all the Elstead supporters. Sharon is working tirelessly to get all fixtures completed which sound relativel easy but I can assure you it’s not. Early replies re availability always helps in these circumstances so please make every effort to get your replies back asap.