This match was organised to try and give the boys some much needed additional match practice. It was always going to be a struggle as Wendover are one of the stronger U.11 teams in the Bucks league network but it served as a valuable game to hone skills and learn from some mistakes! It was also fantastic to have three debutants playing their first match for TPCC further reflecting the strength in depth we now have in the squad.

Finn & Josh opened the bowling, Finn bowled with some real pace on a receptive wicket making the batsmen play and miss a couple of times. Josh was playing his first ever match and after a couple of looseners soon got into his stride bowling with increased accuracy. Both boys picked up a wicket a piece. The batting pair finished on 18.

Thomas & Roman were next and both bowled with good accuracy. The bounce and true nature of the pitch strangely worked against them a little as the batsman were playing straight balls with confidence across the line and some uncharacteristic fielding allowed several boundaries we could have stopped. This resulted in a further 29 runs being added.

Charlie & Jack took up the attack. Jack found some good pace and bounce and troubled the batsman at times. Like Josh it was good to see Charlie growing in confidence the more he bowled and getting his line and length together. However the batsman were growing in confidence and they put on a further 30 as our fielding became even more ragged!

Dan & Tom bowled with great composure and accuracy and managed to peg the opposition back with Dan clipping the top of the stumps to take another wicket. This kept the batting pair down to just 9 and we looked like we may yet keep a lid on the Wendover score.

Oli & Luca were last and came up against a very accomplished pair and despite both bowling with good pace and accuracy and Oli knocking the middle stump out of the ground in his first over the batsman were pretty much a match for everything we threw at them! The pair added a further 24.

310 was always going to be a tough ask and so it proved to be.

The bowling was very straight and accurate from their entire attack and they only bowled 10 wides or no balls v our 32 which immediately gives the opposition an advantage of 44 runs without scoring a run off the bat!

We batted in the same order we bowled:

Josh & Finn found it tough going losing 5 wickets as we quickly learned their fielding was very strong and trying to take quick singles after hitting it straight to the fielder was not going to work! However there we some real highlights with some powerful shots culminating with a lovely pull from Josh for 4. The partnership finished -18

Thomas & Roman ran well but again only after learning the lesson of when to run and when not to as it cost the pair three early run outs! They recovered well after that cutting the deficit to just -5 in the next three overs.

Jack and Charlie played some strong shots with both boys growing in confidence with their running and shot selection meaning we only lost a couple of wickets and giving a +5 contribution to the team.

Tom & Dan came in and played with some real composure, they were accomplished running between the wickets and made sensible shot selections meaning it was only a couple of excellent deliveries that cost us wickets. The highlight of the innings was Dan Hodgson’s glorious straight drive for 4!This resulted in another +5 contribution.

Oli & Luca were our final pair. They came up against some of the best bowling I have seen at this level with sustained pace at one end and quality leg spin from the other. Despite a couple of boundaries from Oli including a lovely on drive off the leg spinner which nearly went for 6 the boys lost wickets to high quality bowling resulting in -4 contribution.

The result was not important here as we knew we were playing strong opposition, what was important was practicing our skills and learning from our mistakes. The key lessons were:

• Playing straight to good balls
• Not running when we hit is straight to a fielder
• Bowling straight
• Getting our body behind the ball in the field

MOM was Dan Hodgson for an excellent spell of bowling and a glorious on drive for 4, our shot of the day!