U15s beat U14s in close friendly

Fortunately, the weather was excellent, if a little cold, for the first junior game of the season, with BSCC U14s winning the toss in the bright sunshine and putting the U15s into bat.

The U15s got off to a solid start, with openers Alex Banhidai (11) and JP Dunphy (16) playing well before Thomas Greenhill took the first wicket of the season. The U15 top order continued to do well with Will Dommet batting excellently reitiring on 21*, and Damien Ducci falling for 16 nicking off to Ben Warren, who was the pick of the U14s bowlers, taking 3-8 in 3 overs! Will Hale also struck the ball well retiring on 21* too. There were late wickets for Harry Pigram and Jamie Ward, plus a couple of run outs.

In response, the two U15 opening bowlers bowled excellently, removing both U14 openers who had looked solid. Harry Pigram (17) and Ben Foster (10) combined for a good partnership, before another flurry of wickets saw us 6 down needing another 60 runs. Charlie Laking (19*) and Ben Warren (20*) then fought back, with Ben in particular striking a few boundaries before retiring, but unfortunately we lost late wickets and fell just 9 runs short.

Overall, I was happy with how we did in what was the lads first ever full size men’s game. The adaption to the much bigger outfield, longer pitch and bigger balls can be difficult, but I was impressed by how quickly everyone seemed to pick it up. Thanks to the U15s and Mark Anders for an enjoyable start to the season. We now look forward to the first league game of the season next Tuesday away at North Enfield!