Last Over Win for Willoughby U11s

It was cool overcast day when Willoughby's captain Eddie Button went out to the middle for the toss. He tossed the coin nice and high and Barby's captain called tails but it was heads. Eddie chose to bowl, preferring to bat second in the dark!

After a small interlude due to some light rain Eddie gave the ball to Ollie Morris-Nicholls and then Mohammad Aslam. Both bowled tightly, Ollie 2 overs, 1 maiden for 1 run and Mo 2 overs, 1 wicket for 9 runs. Mo's wicket was down to teamwork. Kiran Clark parried the ball at full stretch to his right and Ollie somehow managed to catch it. Barby were on 206-1 after the first pair. Ambrose took a wicket in his first over but a few balls strayed onto the legside and were dispatched to the boundary by Finn Mackie. Luke kept the batsmen to singles but gave away a couple of wides and no balls. Barby were now on 239-2, a healthy halfway position. Kiran bowled well very well, missing the wickets a number of times. He bowled 2 overs for 2 runs. Eddie took 1 wicket for 6 runs in his first over and Nirmay bowled his at good pace for just 2 runs. Barby's scored was on par at 247-3. Nirmay bowled well and took two good wickets in one of his remaining 2 overs but had to contend with Jon Watson who scored 20 runs. Nirmay finished with excellent figures 3 overs, 2 wickets for 14 runs. Eddie bowled at a good pace and finished with 3 overs, 1 wicket for 25 runs. Barby had set a target of 268-5.

Noah Kemp and Mo opened the batting and made a steady start. Noah hit a lovely boundary and Mo supported well with 3 not out. The score was 205-3 but heading in the right direction. Next up were Luke and Kiran and they took the score to 222-5. Luke hit a lovely shot for two and Kiran two 4s in his 10 not out. Ambrose and Ollie hit a number of runs but there were a couple of unfortunate runouts. In their last over they ran exceptional well running four 2s and a bye. The score was 226-8 leaving Nirmay and Eddie to score an unlikely 43 runs to win. The first over when well, 12 runs and the second one run better. The third over went for 10 and the score was 261-8. At this point it looked possible and a single from Nirmay and two 4s from Eddie in the first three balls meant Willoughby were ahead. With 3 balls to go and -5 per wicket the game wasn't over! Thankfully they scored a couple more singles to finish on 272-8 and win the match. Eddie had scored a powerful 30 not out with 5 fours and Nirmay had scored 4 not out with some deft late cuts. They both called and ran superbly.

Yet again the U11s played really well as a team and the support to both the bowlers and fielders was notably different to our opposition. It was perhaps an unlikely victory and certainly left our opponents shell shocked. As usual everyone played their part and win or lose the enthusiasm and effort from our team was amazing.