U14s - Sunbury CC v Twickenham CC

The Ts turned up to Sunbury's Kenyon Court Meadow ground to find a green looking pitch and soft ground conditions thanks to heavy overnight rain.

Captain Ali won the toss and inserted Sunbury in the hope that the damp wicket would trouble the Sunbury batters. In only the 2nd over the Ts did manage a breakthrough but not thanks to the pitch but to a smart piece of work from Henry affecting a run out. The good work continued with the opening bowling spells from Ali and Frankie making it difficult for the Sunbury batters to score freely. Teddy, Sean, Hamish, Alfred and Samuel took over bowling duties in the following overs and it was Samuel who took the next wicket thanks to a good catch from Sean. Sean followed this up with his own wicket as the opening bat holed out to Ali in the 18th over. The remaining Sunbury batters saw out the innings to post 184, a good score but one which would have been a lot higher if it wasn't for the fantastic fielding exhibited by the Ts. Each fielder making fantastic stops; from Jathya patrolling fine leg to Samuel's multiple boundary stops plus Alfred and Frankie's stops in the inner field. With only 7 out fielders the high number of times balls hit by the batters went straight to fielders was due to great captaincy and field setting from Ali.

Unfortunately the Ts couldn’t replicate their fielding and bowling exploits when it was their turn to bat. The Sunbury bowlers were accurate, quick and found some movement off the seam and by the end of the 2nd over both Ali and Frankie had come and gone without troubling the score. Wickets fell regularly leaving the Ts reeling at 21-7 at the end of the 8th over. Hamish and Jathya managed to put on a decent partnership of 34 for the last wicket and take the score past 50 before Hamish fell to bring to an end the Ts innings.

An away fixture at Sunbury was always going to pose a difficult challenge for our U14s at the best of times but with school trips and school cricket matches depleting the numbers available to play to 9 the odds were stacked against the Ts from the very beginning.

The U14s now look forward to a Cup semi-final away against Indian Gymkhana in just over a week’s time where they’ll be sure to bounce back from this result.

Many thanks again to Craig for scoring and to all the parents - and grandparent - who supported the boys during the match.

Paul