Match Centre

After Saturday’s torrential rain, it was good to get out at Northcroft to face the Newbury u11s on a slow, sticky pitch. They won the toss and elected to bat.

Jack opened the bowling and made a breakthrough straight away to give the Roundheads momentum they never really gave up. Oscar followed and some boundaries were scored, but Dex came on to reassert that control with a couple of wickets in his first over. There followed some good, tight bowling from Ollie, Eddie. Monty and Henry, with Reuben taking a great catch as keeper off the bowling of Monty. Nate and Samir followed up and the extras continued to pile-up, although some of the calls did seem a bit harsh.

Eddie replaced Reuben as keeper and good, accurate bowling kept the scoring down. Ollie, Monty and Samir picked up wickets, with a catch taken by Jack, a superb run-out effected by Nate with a direct hit, then the champagne moment from the game, Samir taking a fantastic catch off his own bowling to pick-up his first wicket for Falkland. The coup de grace was then applied with Reuben following up his wide off the first ball of the last over with 3 wickets in 4 balls to leave Newbury on 246 - 15 wickets.

Before I go onto the batting, I have to say how pleased I was with the efforts in the field. It feels like we say it every week, but the boys are supporting of each other, always encouraging and some of the catching and boundary fielding was outstanding. Stops by Henry and Samir in particular stand out, though I’m sure there were more. We won’t linger on Dex letting one through a long-barrier or Ollie’s drop at slip though. I was so impressed with all the boys in the field today.

Batting on this pitch was a little tricky as the ball stuck in the pitch a bit and we had a variety of bowling to face. Reuben and Oscar opened facing some good, accurate bowing with wickets in the 2nd over, albeit one to a remarkable catch off a hard hit by Reuben. A couple of boundaries followed, but somewhat strangely, these two from Reu were the only ones we hit in the innings. Pretty much everyone chipped in with some runs, but extras were by far the top scorer, highlighting how hard it was to get going. Jack and Samir were both unfortunate to drag on and Eddie got one of the best balls of the game to one that swung in from well outside leg. 

After the bowling performance, the boys were always ahead of the game and had plenty in the tank, but truthfully, we will want to see them using their feet to get into position to attack bowling and rotate the strike. It wasn’t our best batting display and it gives us plenty to think about and work on, but a net score of 286-5 ensured the Roundheads won the game comfortably.

A big thank you to Tom Patten⁩ for some old-school scoring and ⁨Curt Locke⁩ and @Adam Jones⁩ for their coaching efforts on the boundary - particularly Adam marshalling his tribe of future Falkland juniors.

Player of the Match for a strong all round performance, Reuben, but a special mention to Samir for a superb fielding performance including that catch.