Will Cutlan-Smyth’s outstanding 99 in vain at Billericay

U19 skipper Benjy Furrer won the toss and bowled first away at Billericay on Sunday, with Austin Osborne making an important early breakthrough. Unfortunately the good start didn’t last as Billericay’s other opener struck a rapid 50 off just 16 balls, including multiple huge 6s. This continued throughout the innings with Aidan Murphy eventually getting their captain for 85 off just 37 balls. Their number 3 also made an excellent 55 before James Frans nicked him off. Harry Pigram took a wicket at the death as Billericay upped their run rate further, finishing on a total of 203-4 in their 20 overs. Alex Banhidai was the pick of the bowlers going for just 27 in his 4 overs. Unfortunately our fielding wasn’t good enough, dropping 4 catches throughout the innings which allowed them to get 30-40 more than they should have.

In response, Murray Davidson and Will Cutlan-Smyth got off to a steady start against some quality bowling. The two lads really upped the run rate after the 7th over, both on them a mixture of well placed 4s and a few big 6s. Murray eventually fell for 43 trying to keep up with the 12 an over required rate, whilst Will continued to bat outstandingly. We required 41 off the final 3 overs when Will C-S (99) was ran out coming back for what would’ve been a massively deserved ton. Aidan and Henry did their best to get us over the line, but we finished 15 runs short in the end. It was a massive shame to lose, and Will C-S in particular deserved both a hundred and the win after his unbelievable knock.

We now move on to the penultimate U19 group game against Harold Wood on Thursday, which is a must win game.

There was a very unfortunate incident in the second innings where one of the umpires was struck by a ball which caused a delay in the game. Fortunately, Roger was ok and able to walk off and seemed to suffer from no symptoms whatsoever. He was well looked after by parents from both sides, in particular Harry’s Mum Lisa Pigram who did a great job. He went to hospital just to make sure and thankfully he has the all clear which is great news!