U12s v Hoddesdon

We won the toss and batted first but soon lost our front line batsman Liam, Toby, George and Zain leaving us 21-4. This brought together Will and James, who in previous games have only batted at 10 or 11, and they produced a brilliant unbeaten partnership of 97 runs thanks in part to 47 extras (38 in wides). Will hit 3 boundaries and retired on 33no with 1 ball to go and James was inspired on 28no with 2 fours and we finished on 119-4. The early batters need to learn a bit of patience to wait for the bad ball, of which there were many.
Hoddesdon's openers started well against the pace of Bertie and Adam but the introduction of spin changed everything. Liam bowled one opener and a good catch from Zain accounted for the other while Griff bowled 4 steady overs picking up 2 for 9. Toby and Will combined to effect a run out while Will, Toby, Jack and George all bowled steadily leaving us firmly in charge. Liam then picked up another couple of wickets finishing on 4-8 in 4 overs and it was left to Adam to bowl their No.9 with the final ball as they finished on 92-8.
A potential banana skin averted and it was great to see our 'unrecognised' batsman produce a fine performance.