U11 B's GCL Match v Leatherhead
B's take on Leatherhead A's and are narrowly defeated
It was a cloudless and baking hot summer solstice morning at Parson's Mead ground. We had struggled for availability and so fielded a mixed team with predominantly B's and four A's. Leatherhead had also struggled and ended up fielding their A team.
So our boys were up against it. Leatherhead won the toss and decided to bat first. Ashtead were on top of their fielding under Luke Horner-Long's maiden captaincy. The fielding was top notch as our boys took two catches (Toby Rackett was one and I'm very sorry I can't recall who took the other) and Luke Horner-Long bowled one batsman. One catch was unfortunately dropped, but there were a couple of astoundingly good stops just near the barrier (at least one by Jack Goodman) which made up for it.
Sadly though, the boys' bowling continued to be inconsistent and we gave away 79 runs in extras (mainly wides and just a few no balls). Ashtead ended up 36 runs behind Leatherhead - so eliminating those extras would truly turn the side into a match winning one. This is why I focus part of the Tuesday session every week on bowling line and length.
Our boys put on a superb show of batting and running between the wickets. We performed well in this department - just gave the match away in extras. Our openers, Jack Goodman and Matthew Shadrack scored 29 with Jack finding the boundary once for a 4. Luke Horner-Long and Leo Martin scored 22 with Luke finding the boundary for a 4 and the pair unfortunately being run out once (i.e. could have been 26). Archie Coldicott and Toby Rackett scored 13 also with one run out and Archie finding the boundary for a 4. Paddy Tennent and Alex Gillespie scored 18. Our final pair of Paddy Crossan and Henry Fraser-Ker were top scorers on 30 with both boys finding the boundary once for a 4 and Paddy hitting a big 6! Congrats Paddy.
Thanks to our parent helpers: Mark Rackett and Colin Goodman for helping to setup, Emma Rackett for doing a great job of scoring and the Gillespie's for sorting the half time drinks.
Simon Horner-Long
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