A long trip took the U11s to Pyrford this evening. Fin took on the captaincy for the night and was well supported by his teammates when in the field. Pyrford won the toss and put Elstead into bat. A confident George (6) and Jake (3), took good advantage of a deep field, calling well to ensure the scoreboard started to tick over. A platform was set for Jack (10) (batsmen of the night as awarded by Pyrford) and Isabella (2). As the senior partner, Jack snuck a few singles, despatched two fours and encouraged Isabella along the way. It was great to hear the encouragement from the boundary from the rest of the team as they sat and watched. Next up was Archie (6) and Eddie (15), with strike rates above 85, 4 fours between them. They added a net 37 runs in total, the highest scoring pair for Elstead. The runs continued to flow as Chrissie (11) and Fin (2) took to the wicket and Chrissie played a few glorious hooks to despatch the bowlers to the boundary twice. With a gross score of 314/4 (net 294), there was a good total to defend.
Missing the normal opening bowlers, Jake (1/22 in 3 overs) bowled a superb opening over with 4 dots and two singles, followed by his second over of a four, 3 dots and a wicket. Unfortunately, the last pair were very strong and despatched some good balls and escaped a valiant effort for a caught and bowled in Jake’s last over. Chrissie (1/ 29 in 3 overs and voted a bowler of the night by the opposition) was next up with 2 good first overs and a wicket in the last over against the strong batting pair. Fin (0/17) surprised the batters with the odd ball and, once he has that consistency sorted, the wickets will flow. George (0/13) is showing vast improvement from the first game with a number of dot balls being bowled. Eddie, “I can’t bowl”, ended with 0/22 and, after a wayward first over, came back to bowl straight in his second. Isabella, (0/13) in her second match, is proving to be a valuable asset to the team with some good line and length. Lastly, but by no means least, Archie (0/20) had some cracking balls that attracted great encouragement from Jack behind the stumps.
In the end, Pyrford managed to secure a victory, with a net 322. Many positives in the field to take from the night including great enthusiasm, great attempts for catches (George, Chrissie and Jake), some adventurous keeping close to the stumps by Jack and a safe pair of hands as keeper.