Broxbourne U15s too strong for BSCC in the first match of 2023

This was a home fixture, but our pitch was just too wet, so Brox kindly hosted us to kick off our season! Brox won the toss and decided to bat on this warm & sunny spring evening, although the outfield was still rather damp & slow.

Brox started strongly with their top 3 batters making 36, 20 and 41 and at ~100% strike rate. Although, the boys were adamant that the latter batter was run out cheaply by Dan's direct throw, as he had let go of his bat before reaching the line. But, hey, there's always fine margins when we play Broxbourne!

Captain James was the pick of the bowlers with 3o-14r-1w, followed by Alex, Dan, Luca and Tom, all picking up a wicket each. We limited Brox to 156/5 off 20 overs, but still probably 20-30 runs too many. Our fielding was generally OK, for the first match of the season, but there were some mis-fields and dropped catches, which we must work on quickly, if we want to go deep into this competition.

Anyway, we were still reasonably bullish, as our big guns Ollie and Henry walked out to battle. They started well, going at almost the required run rate in the first 10 overs and without losing a wicket. However, Brox brought on their spinners, pushed out the fielders and our batters started to look tired. Both Ollie (31) and Henry's (35) scoring options dried up. Even, normally explosive James (10) and young Dan (4) struggled to push on the score. In the second 10 overs and with the light deteriorating fast, Brox dominated with some tight bowling, sharp fielding and good captaincy, to limit BSCC to a below par 110/6.

Unfortunately, we've probably played the best side in the league first and we were just too rusty! The matches come thick and fast now, so we need to learn quickly and get back to our winning ways. Perhaps, the overseas sensation, Jake, can teach us a few things about hitting big in tomorrow's training session!

Hope to see most of the boys then, unless the rain beats us to it again!