Unbeaten Run Continues

Tom was our captain today. We batted first. Barney and Louis batted first and after the first 3 overs, we had already reached 226. "This feels comfortable", I thought. But alas it all went a bit wrong from there. Chipperfield had a couple of decent players including a boy who plays district, but the majority of their players were U10's and their bowling was either spot on, wide or incredibly difficult to score off. Our boys really didn't know how to bat against them, which with the quality and experience of the boys on the pitch, was all a bit odd. 3 wickets in the 4th over brought our score down to 213. Tom and Joshy came in next and equally found it tricky, with both of them getting out. Danny and Jamie both hit the boundary, but also were victims to the Chipperfield bowlers. After 12 overs, we were only on 231, 8 wickets. Mal and Kit confidently headed onto the pitch. We gained quite a few extras from poor bowling and fielding from Chipperfield, but they also got a wicket. Kit and Mal both hit the boundary. Mal scored the most runs for Tring and was the only batsman not to get out. We finished on 258, loosing 9 wickets.

So at the interval I fed the boys cake and biscuits, said there's nothing we can do about the score we got, but we needed a really good bowling and fielding innings to ensure the win. I asked for accurate bowling, tight fielding, backing up of the wicket and heaps of encouragement towards each other. They did everything I asked of them.

Mal and Barney shared the keeping today and both did a great job. Our bowling was brilliant tonight. So few extras given to the opposition. We got 6 wickets. 2 for Louis (1 caught by Mal and 1 bowled), 1 for Jamie (caught & bowled), 1 for Danny (bowled), 1 for Kit (bowled) and 1 for Mal (bowled). We concentrated on the field and encouraged each other throughout. Chipperfield finished on 248, 6 wickets.

Undefeated in the league makes us top and through to the quarter finals.

The boys were fab tonight. They showed me respect and the umpires respect. They were courteous to the opposition and importantly encouraging and supportive of each other. Every one of them enjoyed their game tonight and need to be really proud of the way they conducted themselves. It was a pleasure to manage them and I'm really proud of their determination to win the game, whilst still showing incredible sportsmanship.