The U11 coaches arrived early at Burford to ensure all was set well for our first match on the new artifical strip. Although cold and overcast, conditions were pretty good, and after the relocation of a couple of molehills we were good to go. Cobham could only field 9 players, so we lent them a fielder and allowed them to bat a player twice.

Cobham captain George and Elstead captain Tom met for the rock/paper/scissors (which in the cashless age has now replaced the 'toss'), and Elstead unfortunately lost their 3rd toss of the season, with Tom visibily gutted at being asked to bat. Stan and Harry walked out to open for Elstead, with the team hoping for an assured and confident start. It was exactly what Elstead got. Although the bowling was sharp, Stan watched the ball well and waited for the loose balls which were sent for lovely boundaries, including our first '6' of the season. Stan was eventually retired not out on 17*, having done a great job with Harry of seeing off the best of the Cobham bowlers without losing a wicket.

With the bowling easing, Harry now decided to hit out, launching three crucnhing 4s - a beautiful cover drive vying with Stan's 6 for shot of the day. Harry once again batted beautifully and was soon retired for an impressive 21*. With Harry gone, Danny tried to join the boundary fun, but tried a little too hard, and became Elstead's first lost wicket as he was bowled for 3 trying to slog a straight one.

This left Coen and Tom at the crease, and the pair started to accelerate into the Cobham bowling, with boundaries coming regularly. Tom raced to 25* from just 15 balls and was retired not out. Gabe came out to join Coen, and Coen continued where Tom had left off, hitting conseuctive 4s before an ill-judged run was called for and he was run out for 13 by a direct hit, well short of his crease. Gabe finished the innings with a 4 off the last ball to leave Elstead on 112 for 2, which could have been much more had we not retired set batters at regular intervals. It was a solid score nonethless, and the team can be really proud of the way they batted today. The Cobham bowling was generally good, only conceding 27 extras which is a very low number for U11 cricket.

After squash and biscuits (chocolate digetives demolished, rich tea largely given a wide berth), Cobham came out to bat. It was a great start for Elstead when Danny clean-bowled the Cobham opener without scoring off his second ball. Tom opened the bowling with Danny, and bowled tidyly before Danny returned for his second over which he finished off with the clean-bowled wicket of the other opener. Danny finished with the best bowling figures of the day, 2 for 6.

There then followed a passage of play during which Elstead (through Tom, Jake and Gabe) bowled nicely, but the best of the Cobham batsmen were in and boundary 4s were scored off most overs to keep them slightly ahead of Elstead in the run chase. Gabe did manage to extract a wicket with his first ball, having the big-hitting Cobham #4 caught by Danny.

Oli and Benji were next to bowl, during which time Cobham passed the half-way mark on 57-3 - just ahead on run-rate. Benji bowled very nicely for his figures of 0 for 4, and although Oli was hit for a few more runs, he did prize out the wicket of a dangerous-looking Cobham batsman who was caught excellently by Benji.

After a quick change of wicket-keeper (Danny replacing Lochy), Harry came in to bowl against the now very-much in Cobham #3. A couple of boundarues followed but the batter was finally retired out for a very good 27*. At this point, the tail started to open up, and both Lochy and Harry took wickets in their next overs. It felt like momentum was shifting, and with 4 overs left, Cobham needed 30 runs to win. It was up to Stan and Coen to finish the job, and although Stan sent down a couple of costly no-balls, he got a wicket with the very last ball of his first over, removing Cobham's last available batter.

At this point, cricketing ettiquette suggests that a short-handed team returning an out batter to the crease should select either the lowest-scoring batter, or the one who had faced the least deliveries. It wasn't to be today, as Cobham's big-hitting #4 returned to the crease - a clear sign of intent that Cobham were going for the win. Cool heads were required, and Stan and Coen obliged with their next overs. Runs came, but slowly, leaving Coen to bowl the final over and Cobham needing 8 to win.

Coen did really well to keep things tight, ensuring that this most exciting game of cricket went down to the very last ball. It was simple - Cobham needed 4 to win, and Elstead fielders scattered to the boundary to try to stop this from happening. What happened next was deeply unfortunate and a horrible way for a game to end. Coen sent down a wide ball that evaded Danny and ran through the now-vacant long leg area for 4 runs, 5 wides in all sealing the game for Cobham.

A sad end to a match that Elstead really deserved to win. We retired 3 batsmen, lost just 2 wickets, and took 7 opposition wickets which included 3 ducks. Telling perhaps were the 15 byes conceded - a little disappointing given it was an area we worked on on Saturday. Cobham were very much better at converting byes into runs than we were, but in all honesty that was the only area of the game where Elstead were second best. There were some great individual performances across the team - Tom 25*, Harry 21* and 1 for 13, Stan 17*and 1 for 13, Danny 2 for 6 and Lochy 1 for 5. These are great building blocks for future success and the team should be really proud of how our game is improving this season.

Players of the match as awared by Cobham Avorians:
Batter = Coen
Bowler = Gabe