U10s Incrediball Win on Finals Day

The U10s played Watford in the Semi-Final. We chose to bat first and scored a strong 308/4 on pitch with short boundaries. Sam T top scored with 28 including two 4s and three 6s but all four pairs put on good partnerships. We started bowling a little tentatively and the first Watford pair put on 27. Ridley and Rohan then bowled tight overs and wickets from Henry and Thomas checked Watford's progress. Further good bowling and wickets from Adi and Sam plus only a single boundary for Watford in the final 8 half of the innings gave us a comfortable win. (Watford 258/5)

In the final we played Tring Park. Again we chose to bat first on what was now a seriously hot afternoon! Oliver and Adi got the team off to a great start with a partnership of 32 including a six for Adi and four 4s for Oliver. Our second pair hit boundaries but lost wickets to some excellent catching from Tring Park. Jamie and Thomas in the third pair played well and took advantage of some loose bowling putting on a great partnership of 46 with a six and a four for Thomas and a six and two fours for Jamie. Henry and Rohan follow this up excellently to finish the innings with a calm partnership of 34 including three 4s for Rohan and one for Henry. This gave us a really strong total of 323/4 to defend.

It was an incredibly hot afternoon and it might have been understandable if the team struggled to bowl and field as consistently as we have come to expect but they rose to the challenge. We held Tring to three low partnerships for the first three pairs - 18, 10 and 12. There were wickets for Henry, Ridley and Sam and strong bowling generally throughout the whole group. The last Tring pair needed 84 off 4 overs, and for a moment we wondered as one of them hit their first two balls for 4 and 6. However, the team stayed calm and despite a couple more sixes closed the game out comfortably (Tring Park - 271-8).

The boys that played today all made major contributions to the two wins, The team has improved so much this season, and that includes a number of players who didn't play today. They should be really proud of their first proper year of competition and how well they have done collectively and individually!