The Rumble in the Jungle

This weekend saw the U13’s travel deep to the jungle of Milford for a 24 over pairs smash friendly.

Skipper Kalle won the toss and decided to field. The best of the bowling and wickets came from Koby 2 wickets for 4 off 2 overs and Miles 1 wicket for 3 off 2 overs. The other wickets fell to Toby, Jacob and Henry. A few dropped catches, wides and no balls ended up with Milford finishing on 279. (Before you get carried we started on 200).

With some short boundaries this total looked achievable. The first partnership of Morgan and Jack survived without loss of a wicket for 6 runs and the next partnership of Toby and Jake losing 2 wickets and finishing on 8. Elstead needed to drastically increase the scoring rate and the next 3 partnerships did just that. First up 28 from Kalle and Kit. Followed by 25 from Miles and Henry Neal with 24 from Koby and Jacob.

Elstead on 298 going into the last partnership of Jasmine and Charlie looked in a solid position. But this is village cricket where a lot can happen in 4 overs. We just needed to not lose 4 wickets. 3 maiden overs and 2 wickets later saw Jasmine and Charlie under siege from Milford Bowling with Jasmine defending really well Then the second ball of the last over took another wicket. Elstead had 4 balls to face with the score at Milford 279 and Elstead 283…. One more wicket of -5 would give Milford the win.

Even the clouds overhead could no longer handle the tension and it started to rain heavily but there was no way this match was going to be abandoned. Ball 1 missed the leg stump. Ball 2 hit the pads but going down leg side. Ball 3 a great ball just bounced over the stumps.

So like all the great games it came down to the last ball. Milford bowler Stan with each ball had got closer to a wicket. Charlie at the other end just needed to see off the last ball.

The rain pouring, a great final ball from the bowler, good length and bang on middle stump. Everyone held their breath… apart from one man … Charlie Laycock who, in this coaches honest opinion, played the best textbook forward defence block I have witnessed at any level. As the Elstead team ran onto the pitch to celebrate he held the position elbow high bat straight for at least a minute. Some say he is still there like a stone centurion warning local teams of Elstead’s U13’s cricketing prowess.