The postponement of Waverley Abbey's school production suddenly meant that we could field a team for this match which had looked very doubtful earlier in the week. Despite the heat, outside was definitely cooler than being inside, and with a gentle breeze blowing across Thursley Rec, conditions were good for cricket.

There was no toss for this one - Churt & Hindhead had strong-armed us into bowling first when these sides met earlier in the season, so it was only fair we batted first in the return fixture. Stan and Tom opened, and despite some excellent bowling, Elstead started well - Stan nurdling one off the first ball to give strike to Tom, who hit a lovely 4 a couple of balls later. Unfortunately the good bowling did account for Stan off the final ball of the first over, a lovely delivery and Stan was out bowled.

But that brought Harry to the crease for what would be the finest batting performance of this, or any other season from this group of players. Together with Tom, Harry put the strong Churt & Hindhead bowling attack to the sword - respecting the good balls, but punishing the loose deliveries with frequent boundaries. The scoreboard raced along and Elstead were on a lofty 69 before Tom eventually fell for an excellent 25 from just 26 balls at the end of the 9th over - clean bowled for an excellent delivery. Coen then joined Harry and hit a couple of great shots to leave Elstead on a commanding 82 for 2 after 10 overs. We'd already scored more runs than we did the first time these teams met this season, and looked on for a big score.

Drinks breaks however are renowned for shattering momentum, and Elstead U11s have developed something of an unwanted habit of collapsing this season, and soon the tide turned. The excellent Churt & Hindhead bowler who had got Tom out returned with the ball after the break and extracted three further wickets in his next over, with Coen (6), Danny (out first ball to an excellent delivery - but without moving his feet), and Charlie all out clean bowled.

While Harry was there though Elstead could still push the score on. One ball later however, Harry had to retire not out when a boundary took him over 30 runs. An excellent innings against very strong bowling. With Harry gone, Lochie joined Gabe at the crease as Elstead tried to pile on precious runs. A boundary from Lochie helped the scoreboard move along, but a familiar method of dismissal for Gabe meant another wicket was down. Felix, batting against his school-mates, played the best shot I've seen him play for a lovely cover-driven 4, but before long both Lochie and Felix were out - once again both clean bowled. At that stage Elstead had collapsed from 82 for 2 to 108 for 8 in just over 14 overs. It was never likely to be a competitive score, but Churt & Hindhead play to rules where not-out retired batsmen are allowed back in, and we were grateful for their invitation for Harry to return.

Runs came instantly for Harry with two boundaries coming from the rest of the over, and he and Oli batted sensibly and ran well as once again the scoreboard rocketed upwards. Harry's excellent innings became outstanding when from ball 18.3 he scored 2 runs to become the first batsmen in this age-group to register a 50 as he moved on to 51. Its highly doubtful that will be the last 50 this excellent young batsman will produce. Unfortunately the end came next ball for Elstead, with Harry run out pushing for further runs. Still, Harry had driven Elstead to a strong score of 150 all out - which would at least challenge our visitors.

Churt & Hindhead are known as a very strong side with a host of destructive batsmen who can score quickly. Elstead therefore needed a good start, and Danny and Stan were entrusted with providing it. Danny started in customarily accurate fashion and bowled a lovely opening over although he was hit for 4 from an excellent shot by the Churt & Hindhead opener. Stan continued the good work, and bowled an absolute snorter to dismiss the opener clean-bowled from his second ball. Stan continued to bowl well and despite being hit for a boundary 4 by the new batsmen, he increased his pace and aggression, and his last ball pinged off the surface and into the unprotected thigh of the new Churt & Hindhead batter. There was immediate concern all-round and unfortunately the batter had to retire injured, but was able to recover enough to return later in the innings.

With another new batter at the crease, and following a real over of intent from Stan, Danny then bowled his second over and bowled extremely well without reward, but with just 3 runs conceded. With Churt & Hindhead now slipping behind the required scoring rate Stan was back for his second over, and the pressure built with runs hard to find. The final ball went straight through to the wicket-keeper, and Churt & Hindhead decided to chance a run. Pressure told, Charlie through and hit the stumps, and another wicket was down, run out. This was just the start Elstead needed, with Churt & Hindhead now 18 for 2 off 4 overs.

Gabe and Felix were the next pair to bowl, and credit must go to Gabe for an extremely tight couple of overs, conceding just 4 runs off each over to continue to increase the pressure on the batting side. While Felix was a bit more expensive, initially struggling to find the right bowling line, he came back beautifully to take a clean-bowled wicket in his second over. That bought Churt & Hindhead's previously injured batter back to the crease, which was good to see, although he never really looked comfortable and his second stay was short - clean bowled by Tom. It wasn't long before Harry too got in on the act, another clean-bowled wicket and Churt & Hindhead were 61 for 5 after 10 overs.

Elstead were bowling and fielding brilliantly, but we knew we had to keep up the pressure. In our earlier game this season, Churt & Hindhead had accelerated from a similar position to score 155 so this one wasn't over yet... However things moved further in Elstead's favour in the first over after tea when Tom took his second clean-bowled wicket. It was an excellent contribution from Tom today which shows just how much we miss him when he can't play. 24 with the bat, 2 for 14 with the ball and a solid fielding performance - well done Tom!

Harry bowled an excellent second over, and then the ball was passed to Oli, which resulted in an almost identical run-out delivery to the one earlier in the innings. Feeling the pressure to score runs the batters tried to sneak a bye off a ball that had gone straight to the wicket-keeper, but Charlie was once-again deadly accurate with an underarm through, and Churt & Hindhead were wobbling on 71 for 7.

From here the game petered out a little. Oli, Lochie and Coen all bowled tightly and were supported by great fielding which meant that the target increasingly fell out of Churt & Hindhead's reach. There was just time for one more wicket in the final over, with ex-Elstead player Joshie being excellently caught and bowled by Felix. Churt & Hindhead finished on 119 for 8, and Elstead had won by 31 runs.

This was without doubt one of our better performance of the season. Harry's 51 was sublime, scored on a track which saw 13 clean-bowled wickets, where no Churt & Hindhead batter ever looked really comfortable. The latter statement was in large parts due to our excellent bowling and fielding performance with Danny (0 for 11) and Stan (1 for 8) really setting the tone up front, and further great spells from Gabe (0 for 7), Harry (1 for 8) and Tom (2 for 14).

A great win, and one the kids should be proud of, but nonetheless we still have work to do with our batting. We lost 8 wickets clean-bowled (albeit against an excellent attack), which is far too many - and the post drinks-break collapse could have been very costly were it not for Harry's outstanding 50. Its always good to have a great performance though and know that there is still plenty of room to get even better!

Players of the match as selected by Churt & Hindhead:
Batter = Harry
Bowler = Danny