Elstead's Tier 2 U11 side convened at Hambledon in glorious sunshine on Sunday morning. After a brief dealy while the gates were opened, the adults got on with preparing the pitch while most of the kids tested the playground slide. Football goals were removed, a 17-yard wicket was guesstimated, and a (short) boundary put in place on pitch that more resembled Karachi in August than the Surrey Hills in May. Thankfully the strip was artificial.

Captain Tyler won the toss and elected to bowl first, taking the first over himself to Hambledon's opening batsmen. The Hambledon batters appeared composed but just 2 byes came from Tyler's first over. Danny was up next, and despite bowling well, the Hambledon #2 established himself as the danger man with boundaries off consecutive balls. A flurry of further runs were certainly saved by some good fielding at the boundary - particularly at long stop. A further boundary was scored off Tyler's second over, and it was only when Danny returned that Elstead got their first wicket, the Hambledon opener playing on to his own stumps. This was followed rapidly by a first run-out of the day thanks to sharp work in the field. We didn't have it all our own way though, Hambledon's #2 hit a 6 from the last ball of the over to leave the score on 24-2.

Felix came in next and the boundaries and runs continued to flow, but Gabe steadied the ship with a maiden over, including his first wicket, a well taken caught-&-bowled. With wickets falling, Hambledon played more cautiously to Felix's second over, although when Gabe returned, his first ball was sent to the boundary by Hambeldon's #2, who had now moved on to 28. But with a retirement in sight, Gabe struck again - this time clean bowled, and he continued to fulfil a very good over to leave him with impressive bowling figures of 2-6.

Golden-arm Harry was next to bowl and took a clean bowled wicket with his second delviery. He was joined in the attack by Joseph, and both bowled tidily, restricting Hambledon's scoring. By the end of the 12th over Hambledon were on 68-5. Joe and Stan were next into the attack, and Joe opened with a tidy over of loopy spin that was very hard to score off. Stan came in next at a faster pace, and struck with his 4th delivery - a well-taken caught-&-bowled. The next wicket came in the very next over - another smart run-out, but that brought two more accomplished batsmen to the crease, and that brought a flurry of runs in the next four overs as Stan, Leo, Joe and Tyler couldn't prise out another wicket. With two overs left the score was 107-7.

Hambledon retired both set batsmen not out in the interests of giving their whole team batting time, and Leo's next over was a well-bowled maiden. It was up to Danny to finish things off, which he did in style by taking his second wicket, breaking one of the bails in the process! The Hambledon innings came to rest at 111-8 off 20 overs. This was a much improved bowling and fielding performance from Elstead compared to the previous week, although we can still improve further in both regards.

After a break for drinks and muffins, Tyler took the responsibility to take strike, with Joseph his partner at the other end. Tyler signalled his intent immediately, with a 4 off his first ball, and further lusty blows in the second over provided another 4 and then a monster 6. The pair kept the scoreboard ticking over nicely, with Joseph and Tyler both hitting boundary 4s in the next couple of overs. A change of bowling tightened things up somewhat for Hambledon, but Tyler struck another 4 to bring him to within a shot of a not out retirement. Unfortunately a desire to reach that mark with a 6 proved his downfall, and Tyler was bowled for a very handy quickfire 26.

This brought Harry to the crease and it was a nervous start. Late and confused calling early in the next over resulted in an unfortunate run-out for Joseph and Elstead slipped to 40-2. That brought Danny (breaker of bats, breaker of bails) to the crease and he and Harry started to settle. The boundaries started to flow in the next over, with both batsmen finding the rope, and the scoreboard continued to tick over depsite changes in bowling. By the 10th over, Harry was playing beautifully, scoring two more great 4s through the gaps in the outfield. The score had moved to 72-2 and with just 40 more needed, Harry was retired out for a very nice 20*. Stan then came to join Danny at the wicket, but the partnership didn't last long, with Danny falling to a lovely ball.

That proved to be the last wicket of the match. Charlie joined Stan in the middle, and both played nicely. Each batsman looked accomplished as they hit 4s, and a glorious off-drive from Stan was certainly boundary-bound before the bowler ill-advisedly stuck out a leg to stop it. The noise when ball hit bone drew a grimace from the crowd, but thankfully the bowler was ok and could continue. With the runs-required dwindling, Charlie and Stan were retired out, and Gabe and Joe came to the crease. Gabe was in no mood to hang around, knocking off the winning runs within 4 balls, courtesy of two lovely boundaries. In the interests of cricket we played out the over, allowing Joe to also hit a boundary, but the result was already clinched. At 112-3 Elstead had won by 7 wickets with 20 balls to spare.

This was a game played in a great spirit, against a good opposition keen to give their whole squad a go. We look forward to welcoming them back to to Elstead next weekend in the 2nd round of the Cup.

For Elstead it was a very positive perfomance. After the previous week's struggles it was amazing that every batter hit a boundary, the team amassing 14x4s and 1x6. The bowling was much tighter than the prior week although we still had a few unecessary wides/byes, and the fielding was greatly improved. Running between the wicket still needs work though - Hambledon were much better at taking the quick singles than we were - something we'll work on in training next week. It was nonetheless a very good performance against a decent and more experienced team. Its great to get that first league win of the season!