u15s miss out on finals day from penultimate ball!

Stortford u15s just missed out on finals day for the second year running after an agonising penultimate ball loss away at Wheathampsted. Under leaden skies Stortford skipper Henry Hawkins won the toss and chose to bat on a ground ominously named "nomansland!".

After an uneventful first over, Ben Thomas took control and powered Stortford to 24 off the next two overs. He was out next over, but had bludgeoned his way to 22 off 13 with two enormous sixes! Henry then continued the momentum with an enormous six of his own, helping Stortford get to 60 off just 5 overs. The home side wrestled back some control after that by spreading the field and introducing some spin. After Henry was out (36) Stortford stuttered a little and after the 13th over had only reached 92. However Dan Laskey 41* (off 35) and Alex Warren 24 (off 18) drove the score forward and scored at 10 an over until Alex was out attempting to hit a 3rd six! Dan's retirement in the next over left two batters at the crease and only managing 5 runs in the final over was potentially crucial. 145/7 was maybe 5-10 runs short.

Wheathampstead's response was almost identical for the first few overs, with 5 boundaries, including another enormous 6 being struck early on. However spin from Alex and left arm over seam from Harrison slowed the rate and crucially Alex dismissed the two openers. Wheathampstead had amassed just 68 for 2 off 10. Were Stortford in control? Unfortunately not......with one very short boundary and a lightening fast outfield, Stortford were unable to contain late ball striking. 55 runs conceded from the last 6 overs hurt Stortford and ultimately we could not defend 8 off the last over. However let's not take anything away from what was a great performance. We fielded better than in any game this season, some of the ball striking was immense. I doubt we have hit 5 sixes in an innings this year and we lost by tiny margins. The loss was hard to take, but we re-group and go for the Summer League now!