BSCC U19s Start with Tight Win!

Our U19s beat Hadleigh & Thundersley in the first Ravi Bopara U19 Group Match on Friday.

We lost the toss and were asked to bowl. Sam Robinson made the early breakthrough, with Freddie Chapman taking a good catch at mid on. They then put on an solid partnership, with their best player and captain looking good until he skied one to Harry Pigram who took a good catch under pressure off Freddie Chapman’s bowling. Freddie also got their No.3 with a good bouncer for 30. Hadleigh then had another decent partnership before Will Cutlan Smyth took a blinder at deep square leg off Will Hale’s bowling, which started a procession of wickets. Aidan Murphy came back and took 2 wickets in a row (and arguably could’ve had a hat trick was it not for some slack fielding…). Skipper Harry Olorenshaw also took a wicket as they finished with 123-7 in their 20 overs.

Our response with the bat was mixed. We knew we had the batting in the hut which arguably led to some poor shot selections from our lads. Every time we got on top, we lost a wicket, with starts for our entire top 6. Murray Davidson scored a quick 18, Benjy Furrer looked good for his 27 and Will Cutlan Smyth was very unlucky to be run out backing up at the non strikers end for 19 which left us in a spot of bother at 86-5. It was left to Tom Howes and Liam Mays to score 35 in the last 6 overs. They both knocked it around well however one excellent over from their skipper meant we needed 9 off the last over. Liam was very brave and ramped the first ball for 4 which put us on top only to chop onto his stumps the next ball. Sam Robinson came in needing 5 off 4 and managed a quick two and then a single leaving Howesy needing 2 off 2. Howesy hit one at cover and we ran and fortunately managed to come back for the second thanks to an overthrow which gave us a nervy but deserved win.

Overall it was a good team performance. We bowled and fielded very well, and in the end did the job with the bat, but we know we can do a lot better with the bat in the future.
The next group game is on the 26th June away at Hornchurch.