BSCC u13 v Welwyn u13

We hosted Welwyn Garden City for our first league match of the season. We expected them to be a very good team and there were no surprises in that respect. We lost the toss and were put in to bat. The Welwyn bowling was consistent and strong throughout and their opening pair of bowlers were particularly impressive. Luke and Will D survived the first few overs quite well, making a few runs, but once their wickets went we were into a regular pattern of losing wickets, most of which were clean bowled. Only Ben and Jake made it to double figures with Ben methodically compiling 26 not out against the fiery bowling attack. Our run scoring was far too slow and while we managed to survive the full 20 overs, scoring less than 80 was never going to be good enough.

WGC have a couple of outstanding batsmen and they batted aggressively from the word go, even though we bowled pretty well. Freddie got a wicket in the first over and Harry bowled well at the other end. Will H also bowled well, but the batsmen took over and quite nonchalantly won the game in only 10 overs. Noah salvaged a late wicket but by then the game was over and WGC were well deserved winners on the day.

It was a shame to lose our first league match but WGC were an outstanding team and it was a fair result. We actually bowled quite well but WGC batted with real confidence and saw every ball, however good or bad, as an opportunity to score.

The lessons for us today which will help us when we go to their venue for the return match are to bat far more aggressively (we always waste too much time tapping the ball politely away). We have enough wickets to play more aggressively and take risks for the team. We also need to be more committed in the field. We left a few catches out there which we just didn’t make enough effort to get to. We need to be brave and fully committed.

Hero of the day: Freddie Hickey’s little brother for being on the wrong end of a massive six which landed in the pavilion. He was very brave!