Hertford Beat The Gloom

A tidy and efficient display by Hertford saw them home against our U14 side on Wednesday as the gloom gathered on the Lower Ground.

Hertford (82/2) won by 8 wickets, chasing down the Stortford total of 81 which we achieved for the loss of 5 wickets from an agreed 18 overs.

Choosing to bat first - the Stortford total was built around some promising contributions from Toby (15), Liam (13) and Max (15*) but the consistent accuracy of the Hertford bowling on a slow early season track kept our batsmen in check. Backed up by some good Hertford ground fielding and catching, they would have been happy with restricting Stortford to 81.

We need to find a little more confidence in our batting and find the gaps in the field which we can work at in training and in matches. And to improve our running between wickets. If we could run as well as we can dance (#??*#) we would have posted 100. We never put the fielding team under any pressure; too happy to take the single. Again we can work on that.

Whereas the line and length approach of the Hertford bowling challenged our batsmen, our bowling lacked consistency. A good over was followed by the odd short ball that was put away for four.

A good opening spell from Max (0-7) and later overs from Matthew (0-7) and Bertie (1-6) including a smart catch from Griff might have caused concern in the Hertford ranks but those 4-balls let the opposition canter to the winning total in 14 overs only 2 down.

The 2nd wicket was down to a good pick up and throw from Sam who combined well with Archie to run out the Hertford opener.

Neverthess the other Hertford opener, Matt Day saw his side home with 38*.

Well done to Liam for captaining the side and for Archie for taking on the glove work - both did very well.

Thank you to Sarah for scoring on a chilly evening.

So over all - a match played in good spirit by both teams but a result for us to forget. On cricketing ability, there was little between the teams. Hertford were more focused and busy which led them to their win.

Game 2 is at St Margaretsbury next week (Thurs 3rd May @ 6.00pm) so with improved availability and things to work on we look to bag our first win.