BSCC U15s WIN HERTS SUMMER LEAGUE!

Our BSCC U15s won the Herts Summer League yesterday with an outstanding all round performance against a very strong West Herts team.

We knew we would have to be at our best as West Herts had won the Summer League for the previous 3 years, and had beaten us in the Quarter-Final 2 years ago. They had 4 Hertfordshire players too so they were always going to be very strong.

In front of a good crowd at Crickefield Lane, skipper Ben Warren won the toss and elected to bowl first. West Herts got off to a strong start hitting 2 boundaries in the first over, before Ben Warren applied the pressure with an excellent maiden, which helped cause a mix up from their batters and an early run out of one of their strongest batters, thrown in by Paddy A-L and well taken by Henry Hawkins. Ben Warren and Thomas Greenhill then continued to squeeze the West Herts batters, with their captain doing most the scoring. Ollie Foot came on first change and their number 3 tried to break the shackles and hit a big shot straight down the throat of Austin Osborne at cow corner, who was never going to drop it leaving then 37-2 off 7 overs. Their captain continued to score along with the number 4 who played some outstanding shots all around the ground as they both went on to retire (26* each). West Herts were 68-2 off 12 overs.
With their county players all out or retired, we then really squeezed their middle order, bowling and fielding with lots of discipline. Austin Osborne was fantastic taking 2-15 and Paddy A-L also excellent taking 1-11 in their respective 3 overs. Harry Pigram and James Frans finished off the innings well as West Herts finished 102-6 in their 20 overs.
It was a quality effort from all the bowlers, excellently supported by all the fielders.

In response, Harry Pigram and Henry Hawkins opened the batting, having had regular opener Ollie Mitchell break his finger in the SF (pictured in black above). Harry Pigram continued his amazing run of scoring runs in big games as he went ultra aggressive against the West Herts openers, hitting four 4s and one huge six up the hill, nearly into the clubhouse! At the same time, Henry Hawkins continued his outstanding form, timing every shot he hit, including a pull shot for 6 up the hill and a one bounce reverse sweep 4! Both lads retired with 26* each getting us off to the perfect start. Ben Foster did a good job of ticking us over despite his injured ankle, whilst Ben Warren took a more aggressive approach by hitting the ball very hard all over. Fozzie fell just short of retiring as he was bowled for a solid 21, with the team needing just 6 to win. Austin Osborne knocked his first ball into the leg side for one, before Ben Warren won the game in incredible style, hitting a huge 6 over cover to win the trophy!

It was a near perfect all round performance from the lads, dominating the game from start to finish against an excellent team.

They really deserve it for how good they’ve been for the last 7 years, and to win a trophy in their last season as a whole group was very rewarding for me as a coach and all the parents who’ve watched them all grow up together.

Thanks to all the parents who’ve supported the team throughout the 7 years, I couldn’t be prouder of the lads in how they played in the final game. It is the end of regular junior cricket, but I hope to see them all push to play Matchplay, U19s, Dev XI and Senior XIs at BSCC next year and beyond!