Sutton U11 120
for 7 (24 overs)
Dulwich U11 123 for 7 (22.4 overs)
Sutton Lose By 3 wickets
After an incredible 3 years and some 30 league games the words “Sutton” and
“lose” finally appear in the header of one of these reports. My clever
spell-check software kept spitting the sentence out. After a long and at times
difficult season, the under 11’s resolve was finally broken by a good Dulwich
side who thoroughly deserved their win on the day. Ultimately Sutton was undone
by not quite getting enough runs on the board, and by a Dulwich side that could
bat well down the order.
Sutton had shown a
penchant for setting big targets over the earlier part of the season and so
when put into bat by the oppo skipper hopes were high that we could do so again
and post another 140+ score. After the early unlucky loss of opener Matthew,
Harry and Lekan looked to be getting us on our way with a good stand of 65 that
took us to 71 at 6 an over by the half way drinks. However, maybe someone put
bromide in the Lucozade as the break (or perhaps Nandrolone in the oppo’s?)
seemed to disrupt the early momentum as the next 4 overs yielded only 3 runs as
Dulwich tightened up. We also lost Lek for an excellent 23 during that lull and
after Rehan and Patrick went cheaply to a combination of a fluke run out and a
pea-roller on an inconsistent wicket, the innings had stalled. Harry stood firm
as anchor and despite a throbbing finger managed to add a partnership of 27
with Ethan who had joined him after the 4th wicket fell.
Once Harry departed for another fine 27 as he tried to force the pace as the innings closed, it was left to Ethan and Dougie to tick the score along to 120, with Dougie getting a terrific 2 with his new bat (“£50 a run” according to his dad – let us hope the unit cost falls over the bat’s lifetime). Ethan played the best innings we have seen from him and is becoming a fine prospect with the bat. He’ll get more chances to impress.
We knew that defending 5 an over was going to be a tough call, especially against a team full of district standard players, but the boys hit the pitch full of purpose. The Dulwich openers started well and had us under pressure with an opening stand of 39 off 8 to keep them bang on target. The introduction of Ayrton managed to peg them back and his magnificent spell of 4 overs for 3 runs and a wicket put Sutton back on top at the halfway point with Dulwich falling behind the required rate at 51 off 12. However, that drinks break seemed to knock us off course again (maybe some gin had got in their drinks never mind the bromide) as after the break the scoring rate picked up despite wickets falling at regular intervals to Patrick (2) , Sam (2) and Harry and a good run out by Rehan complete with the “Afridi” celebration. The fielding was actually very good with few mishaps and a great catch by Ethan coupled with Matthew’s stumping and catch behind. However, the bowling became a bit ragged as Dulwich’s lower order took full advantage to accelerate in the later overs to take the match by 3 wickets with 8 balls to spare. They batted well, but our bowling in the later overs made it just too easy for them.
So a wonderful winning run came to an end. But the boy’s heads never went down and they made Dulwich work hard with only 14 runs conceded in extras (they gave us 46) and good fielding throughout typified by Ethan taking one in the gut to stop a four. Unfortunately our score was just not enough – another 10-15 could have been a winning score but it was a day of maybes all round. In the context of the season it was in the end perhaps better that we lost the league title in this fashion than by virtue of poxy penalty points for a conceded game. And it was good to have a real game against a very decent bunch of boys who were just better than us on the day. Despite the loss it was maybe one of the better games we have been involved in from a spectator’s point of view.
It has been a harder season than I ever expected and fielding over 20 players has again shown what a squad effort it has been even though it meant we never fielded an even remotely settled side at any time. In the circumstances we should remain extremely proud of the way these boys have played and conducted themselves in victory and now in defeat. It may in the long run be good for them to taste defeat in this fashion – but be sure they have not ever, and did not on this occasion, let anyone down - least of all themselves. They will come back fighting.
