SQUARE BASHING
Sutton U11 172 for 0 (24 overs)
Purley U11 68 all out (23.5 overs)
Sutton Win By 104 runs
Sutton travelled to a new venue on the under 11 circuit to play Purley
at their pleasant Garrison Ground in Caterham on yet another red hot Sunday
morning. The only heavy artillery on show, on a ground previously used by the
army and surrounded by former barracks, were Sutton’s top order who piled on
their highest score of the season without conceding a single wicket.
Cap’n Harry lost the toss but got his wish to bat first as the opposition captain put Sutton in first. It proved to be the last time Purley had their noses in front as aggressive batting and persistent work in the field resulted in a convincing win. Harry played the anchor role this week with a solid and patient 32 ret, and underpinned an opening stand of 74 with Owen (31 ret off 23 balls) and a second partnership of 32 with Jack (31 ret off 26) enjoying the opportunity to bat a little further up the order and resplendent in his Winnie The Pooh plaster. Seeing his side through to 106 before retiring to put the icing on his birthday cake was almost Strauss-like in its contribution to the teams score and saw Harry pass 100 runs for the season. All the early batsmen had to control their frustration as the home bowling got a little wayward at times but when they had the chance they cut loose with some forceful hitting to score at almost 8 an over. Smart calling and running added at least 20 to the total as all the batsmen batted for the side, with Matthew typifying the effort with another unbeaten 20-odd, and adding 30 with Patrick at the end as the innings closed on 172 for 0.
The Sutton total might have encouraged a less than focused effort in the field but Harry’s troops applied their usual pressure right from the start and soon had Purley reeling at 30 for 6 after 11 overs. Early damage was done by new opening bowler Ayrton’s 2 for 14 off 4, Patrick’s 2 for 5 and Sam Mannion’s 2 for 3 with two LBWs showing proper reward for his predictably straight bowling. Jonah, Ethan and Lekan chipped in with a wicket each all courtesy of stumpings from Matthew who had a field day behind the stumps with 4 stump demolitions to keep the umpires awake at square leg. Purley rallied a little in mid innings and almost took the game the distance until Harry brought himself on to bowl and mop up the last home wicket with the penultimate ball. Debutant James took a great catch off Patrick and distinguished himself in the field throughout. The fielding and bowling in general remained persistent and focused in the face of some effective stonewalling by Purley. It was maybe a taste of what might be to come if they ever make a test match against Bangladesh!
Harry handled the bowlers well and enabled everyone to take something from a match that looked “won” early on but still required great concentration and focus (words used an awful lot in team-talks sorry!) to finish Purley off. All of these games no matter how they turn out deliver lessons of some sort and this was no exception and allowing all of the boys to enjoy a well-earned piece of cake to celebrate the captain’s birthday at the close. I had mine at 10pm that evening and it tasted as sweet as this win.
