Final Over Thriller II

It was a splendid spring evening at The Green, the ground basking in the sunlight and the smell of freshly cut grass in the air, the perfect situation for a game of cricket with our good friends from Oakfield CC.

Eddie Button tossed the coin and Monty Hinds called tails but alas it was heads. Edward elected to bat first afeared of batting in the dark!

Alfie Offord and Noah Kemp were kept on their toes with each of their four overs from a different bowler. In their efforts to push the score on there was an unfortunate runout. Despite Alfie and Noah scoring 8 and 4 gross runs respectively two wickets left the score on 209. Krishe Chopra on debut and Luke Loddick faced some mixed bowling, it was either on the stumps and they defended resolutely or too wide to hit. They left the wicket with the score on a healthy 228. Ollie Morris-Nicholls was paired with Mehul Patel.and they did well together in taking the score to 246. Ollie smashed a four and Mehul again kept his wicket intact. Eddie and Nirmay Patel walked to the wicket on a mission to score runs. The mission was very successful and they scored 29 runs between them, each scoring boundaries on their way to scores of 9, Nirmay and 20,Eddie. The innings ended on a very respectable 282 despite some good bowling from Oakfield. The team batted incredibly well in losing only 3 wickets.

Mehul and Ollie bowled against two good batsman Christopher, 16 and Joe Lawton, 7. Although both batsmen hit boundaries they didn't have it all their own way with Ollie and Mehul each taking a wicket and keeping the score to 217. Georgia Dowling and Samuel Lau came out to bat against Krishe and Noah. At the end of Krishe's first over Noah took a nasty blow on the cheek whilst stopping a throw from the boundary. After a few deep breaths he bravely carried on. He channelled his misfortune into his first over, steaming in like a train with fire and steam billowing from the funnel. He bowled with pace and narrowly missed the stumps a few times. Krishe found a better line and length in his second over and the pair left the pitch without losing a wicket and the score at 244. Oakfield were now ahead of the run rate! Luke took matters in hand and bowled his first maiden, advantage Willoughby. With just one run from the bat, Luke, Nirmay and Eddie kept Oliver Bell and Jacob Crinigan to 261. The stage set for another thriller. Captain Eddie and vice captain Nirmay to bowl at Oakfield's captain Monty and Himansa Hingulage. Nirmay's first over was bowled with real pace but didn't quite go to plan. On the fourth delivery he quickly pulled his arm over and released the ball but alas it was too early. The ball soared into the sky like a bullet over Alfie the wicket keeper, despite his salmon like leap and bounced just the once before crossing the boundary for six byes. The next ball went for four. Nirmay took this in his stride and bowled Himansa thus claiming back a valuable 5 runs and leaving the score on 269. Fourteen runs to win with three overs to go. Eddie took a wicket to make it 14 runs off two overs. A slower over from Nirmay went for only four runs with a fine run out. Eddie was bowling at full pace and Monty took a painful blow to the thigh. Once the pain had subsided, he bravely took his stance as Eddie thundered in. This time Monty hit a marvellous straight drive for 4. Oakfield were now just 3 runs from victory with one ball to go. A good dot ball from Eddie secured the U11's first victory of the season.

Another great game of cricket played by two good and evenly matched teams. If you missed this game, fear not as the teams meet again at The Green for the first round of the Cup. Will it be "Final Over Thriller III"? #CoachCan'tStandTheTension

PS Thanks to Fergus Deery our groundsman for permanently marking the 20 yard pitch, much appreciated.