It was bright and sunny at Thursley on Sunday as the league's foremost teams met in the final competitive match of the season. The rain from the previous day still lay heavy on the outfield, and the pitch got a little wetter when we removed a makeshift cover to make play possible. Fortunately, captain Leo won the toss and decided to bowl first, deducing that batting would get easier as things dried out. Churt officially scored this game, with the Elstead version somehow being deleted after the game, so apologies for any inaccuracies with the below! Churt only had 7 available players for this game, so some batters batted twice, and two bowlers had 3 overs, whilst Elstead leant Churt a fielder to ensure a fair match.

Churt & Hindhead's opening batters came to the crease with a high-scoring reputation. Stan opened the bowling for Elstead as we looked for a strong start, and despite bowling very well, was dispatched for a lovely boundary 4 off his second ball. The rest of the over was a real battle between batter and bowler, with a few hurried singles and byes showcasing how keen the Cobras were to build a score. Tom bowled next as the Churt batters continued to tick the scoreboard over, but they tried for one too many runs on the fourth ball of the over, with Tom effecting a great run-out. Churt continued their momentum though as the next ball was dispatched for another boundary 4, as well as being a no ball. Jake bowled next and it was a really tidy over against this accomplished pair of batsmen, but still 6 runs were scored from it - mostly due to excellent running between the wickets. Finally the pair had to face Jack, bowiling for his first time in a match this season. Jack kept things reasonably tidy, but another boundary 4 off the last ball of the over saw the Cobras reach 229. In truth some excellent bowling and fielding restricted this score, and we were quite glad to see these two Churt batters take their leave!

Charlie was first to bowl agianst the new pair, and bowled extremely well, taking a clean bowled wicket 4th ball. This was followed two balls later by run-out of the day from Tom, throwing the stumps down from point despite having only 1 to aim at. Gabe bowled next and bowled well, despite a couple of wide deliveries. Then it was Leo - who has been excellent in recent weeks. Keeping things very tight again, a further run out was secured as Churt tried to push for runs, I believe Charlie may have been the fielder this time. Harry bowled next and continued to keep the score down with an excellent over. With wickets starting to tunble, Cobras had only moved on to 233 after the second pair.

The next pair of Churt batters came out to face Stan, who was now bowling with excellent pace and accuracy. Just 3 runs came for the over (2 byes), leaving Stan with good figures of 0-8 for the day. Tom came in next and took a great wicket first ball - clean bowled. Unfortunately this wicket brought Cobra's most explosive batter back to the crease, and he hit two massive sixes before the over was out. Then came arguably over of the day, and certainly catch of the match. Jake was back, and he bowled really tidly - picking up a clean-bowled wicket 4th ball. Things got better two balls later when the Cobras batter tried to hit another 6, but the ball skied, and Charlie came tearing in from the boundary to make a really excellent catch sliding forward on his knees. A double-wicket maiden for Jake (who finished with 2-4), and the match tipped back in Elstead's favour once more. Jack then bowled his final over, and despite 10 runs coming from it, Jack did really well, and no further boundaries could be scored. Cobras were now on 241.

Charlie, who has been bowling very well of late, started the over to the final pair, consisting of Churt's 7th batter, plus an over each from certain others who had alreay batted, meaning Elstead's bowlers had to try and contain 3 of Churt's bigger-hitting batters once again. Charlie struck first ball, and then completed a very tidy over to finish on excellent figures of 2-2. Gabe was up next and bowled a tighter over than his first, conceding just 2 runs - with a further 3 runs coming in byes. Leo and Harry then finished off the Churt innings, with great overs that the Cobras found it tough to score from. Leo ended on 0-4, and Harry 0-5. Churt had scored 89-8 for a net scoreof 249. There was a feeling at the break that Elstead had done really well to restrict Churt to under 250 - by far their lowest score of the season. Once again our bowling and fielding excelled, with a customary 8 wickets taken.

Harry strode out to bat quickly after juice and cakes, clearly keen to get on with it. Curiously however, the Cobras were less eager to take the field, for reasons not clearly understood. Fortunately, following a lengthy pep talk, Churt came to field, with one Elstead player helping for 2 overs each to ensure a fair 8-a-side game. Harry and Gabe opened for Elstead, and Harry got us off the mark with a lovely run first ball. Unfortunately we lost a wicket second ball, with Gabe electing to try and slog a straight one to cow corner - but missing. Despite some good bowling, Harry was clearly in batting mood today and hit an excellent 4 off a no-ball. Despite the wicket, 10 balls were scored off the bat in the over. Runs were harder to come by after that, as the Cobras unleashed tidy bowler after tidy bowler. Although there was no real pace in their attack, this was probably the best bowling line-up we have faced this season. 4 runs came off each of the next 3 overs, with Harry scoring a creditable 10 runs in all as Elstead moved to 217 after the first pair.

In next were Jake and Stan, but the Churt bowling remained very tight. Tight bowling does put pressure on the scoreboard, and pressure often leads to wickets in cricket. So it was when Stan tried to hit out on the last ball of the 6th over, but the ball went skywards, and was well caught. The odd no-ball kept the scoreboard ticking over, but runs from the bat proved hard to come by for this pair, with no respite as Churt's opening bowler came back to bowl the 8th over as the Cobras were one player short. At the half-way point Elstead were on 228, and still chasing the game.

Leo and Tom came in next, with Leo taking strike. Both Tom and Leo batted very well against fine bolwing, with 5 off the over. Leo and Tom then both looked to start hitting out - there were two lovely boundaries scored in the next over, although there was also another caught wicket. Tom and Leo had the score ticking over well by now, and two further boundries were scored in the 12th over which really wrested the initiative back Elstead's way. Scoring inaccuracies mean the actual runs scored by Tom and Leo have been lost, but I believe Tom got around 11 and Leo around 8. Together they had moved Elstead to 252 and into the lead!

Charlie and Jack came out last, knowing that sensible batting would win the day, and that is exactly what they delivered. Wickets were kept intact despite the pair having to face the 3rd overs of Churt's best bowlers, and the pair both played some lovely defensive shots. Elstead finished on 81 for 3, a net score of 266, and a win by 17 runs. Churt were without doubt the best team we have played this season, and taking the win was a really good acheivement for Elstead U9s. We excelled with the ball and in the field again, taking 8 wickets whilst conceding just 3. But Cobras gave us plenty to think about and learn from. This was the best bowling we faced this season, and the Cobras were much better than us at running quick singles and byes (although they also lost 3 wickets to run-outs). Finally it is still obvious that we need to work on keeping the ball down when playing our shots. All three wickets were lost by either hitting the ball in the air or trying to do so - and a further catch only didn't count as it was off a no-ball.

These are all things we will work on as this team moves forward to a new season next year. For now every single player can be extremely proud of their 'invincible' season - with all 8 of our U9 Tier 2 Surrey South games being won. Well done team - a great acheivement!