Arrived fairly under a gloomy sky and fairly cool conditions, set up some stumps and got the gloves on and kept whilst Joe and Ben bowled and gradually more of the boys joined in and practiced while they were waiting around for the game to start. Joe was all over the place which was disappointing after yesterdays practice session in the nets where he bowled absolutely perfect.
The teams were selected from the U11's and U13's mixing both age groups together meaning that Ben and Joe were placed in opposite teams. Ben and Joe both bowled their allocated 2 overs each neither taking wickets today and Joe bowling quite a few wides. Ben bowled okay without any real success. Both of them along with most of the team batted well, there were very few wickets taken and whether that's a reflection of a medicore bowling performance or an improvement in their batting remains to be seen. Joe got some bat on the ball and hit a potential four low through Cover, but was fielded perfectly, but he was happy to have hit the ball so well out of the middle of the bat. The remainder of his innings he appeared to block the ball well and keep the ball off the stumps. He dabbed a ball into the middle of the pitch when facing faster bowlers and was nearly caught, but generally did really well and came away pleased with himself and he made a few runs.
Ben had a similar innings and the highlight of his was a late cut that went down to 3rd man and he ran two off that before it was fielded a bit short of the boundary line. Like Joe he was just happy to have survived without giving away his wicket as in this game your wicket is 5 runs against your overall score and the teams.
The game was conducted in cold weather and a bit of drizzle, but overall a good game was had by all and the fact that almost everyone kept the ball off the stumps is something to go forward with. Next stop - Thurrock cc (My team) at Grays.
