Willoughby Lose Final League Game by One Run

The last league game of the season took place on a lovely Summer's day at Hunningham Cricket Club. We're so familiar with the ground with it being the third consecutive year that the fixture has been at Hunningham it's like a second home. For once the toss took place on the boundary. Eddie lost the toss and was put into bat which wasn't what he wanted.

Alfie Offord (2) and Gareth Wylie (1) opened the innings and were tested by some good bowling from Hunningham. They lost just one wicket and took the score to 213. The second pairing of Kaitlin Porter (1) and Luke Loddick (0) defended solidly and when their four overs had finished the score had moved on to 238. Debutant Caled Parry (1) took a couple of blows but didn't bat an eyelid and went on with Mohammad Aslam (1) to take the score to 248. Edward Button (20, 3 fours) and Aiden Porter (11, 2 fours) strode confidently to the wicket. Their confidence was justified as some lovely shots and good running meant the innings ended on 285. A good total was set and the game was on.

Hunningham had sent out two of their best batsmen and though Kaitlin and Caled bowled very straight the pair score d 48 runs with a number of boundaries . Gareth bowled a good line and length and was rewarded with the team's first wicket. He was well supported by Luke who kept a good line despite the LH and RH batsmen. Luke was very unlucky not to get a wicket. A combination of adult stump spacings, junior stumps and ball meant a delivery literally went through halfway up the stumps. To add insult to injury they got a bye as Alfie hadn't expected the ball to go through and the score was 271! The next four overs were shared between Aiden, Eddie and two by Mohammad. Aiden and Mohammad both bowled a maiden and Eddie's over went for 2 runs. They'd bowled really tightly to create a bit of pressure with the score 279. Aiden's first over against the final pair went for 5 and Eddie's went for 11 with 2 boundaries which took Hunningham to 95 a lead of 10. Aiden stormed in and the batsman tried to pull the ball but got a top edge which went very high to Gareth at square leg where he took a difficult catch with the ball spinning fiercely. The next 3 balls saw 2 runouts. The firrst a direct hit by Eddie and the second with Aiden taking a throw from Eddie. The knocked the score back to 280. The batsmen responded well with 5 runs to make the scores tied! Eddie bowled a good last over with 5 dot balls and a leg bye but alas no wickets thanks to there being no LBWs.

Another really exciting game from the U11s which in fairness they would've won if the junior stumps had been correctly setup! As usual the teamwork was fantastic and the team had fun as did the spectators. That's the end of the league season and the U11s have acquitted themselves extremely well. The effort they've put into training and the matches throughout has paid off and they've all improved since the beginning of the season.