U11's WIN IN REED TO REACH HJL FINALS DAY

The U11 Eagles (11-a-side) team advanced to the HJL Finals Day following a very tense victory in Reed this evening. In humid and sticky conditions, the hosts Reed won the toss and elected to bat on a good surface, at what could be described as a "beautifully British village green" of a venue. The Eagles struck early in the sunshine and restricted the hosts to just 10 for 4 wickets.... yet once again, far too many extras were conceded, meaning we would have to score 90 runs to reach Finals Day. Arthur Howes, who was the man of the match, bowled quite beautifully and finished with figures of 5 wickets for 2 runs from his 3 overs. There were also wickets for Sam McGinn (2), Tom Foden (1) and Ethan Hill (1) , whilst Luca Livermore conceded just 7 runs from his 3 overs, despite not taking a wicket.
The Eagles never make a run chase easy, but the middle order all 'chipped in' with Foden scoring 14, Hill a quick fire 20, Krishan Fernando 10 and it was left to Sam Braund to 'steady the ship' with an uncharacteristic yet very patient 7 not out, which proved to be decisive. We therefore won by 3 wickets with 3.2 overs to spare.
This 'large' Eagles squad of 26 players have ALL been part of this amazing journey we are on . . . and it is a journey which will ultimately end at 'U11 Finals Day' in Welwyn Garden City on Sunday.