St Margaretsbury too strong for BSCC U9s, but BSCC through to KNOCK-OUT stage!

This was the last match of the Hert U9s summer league and we knew we were already through to the knock-out stage, so the pressure was off!

BSCC won the toss and decided to bowl, keeping things nice and tight. St Margaretsbury scored 256 after their 3rd batting pair, but kept the strongest batters to last, who dispatched a further 40 runs, ending the innings at 296/2. What was great to see was the fantastic BSCC fielding ENERGY; all the fielders called out "Walking in" as the bowlers ran in and followed it up with great ground fielding and backing up.

At the half way point, we still felt the score was chaseable, but soon found the batting wheels coming off! We missed some straight balls and played too many aerial shots, getting dismissed 10 times and losing 50 valuable runs! Our score was only 212/9 after our 3rd pair batted, which left too much for Alex (13) and Will (8/1) to do, but they did hit some nice shots to end the innings on 234/10.

This was a great learning experience for all; so (1) in batting, we need to be more careful with our shot selection and make sure we can defend straight bowling - remember in "proper" cricket you only get one chance and (2) in bowling, make sure we position our fielders where the batters like to hit or better still don't bowl in areas where they like to hit!

Anyway, we are now through to the final 16 knock-out stage and the next match is away at Knebworth Park on Thursday 6th July. WELL DONE & CONGRATS TO EVERYONE WHO PLAYED FOR THE BSCC U9s TEAM. Based on all the performances and results, I will select a team for subsequent matches and contact the parents directly. If you are not selected, then there will be "friendlies" at the end of the season and then there is the HECC indoor winter league - the main thing is to keep on practising your batting, bowling, keeping and fielding, ready for next season. Finally, a big thanks to all the parents for your help, support and travels!

Thank you,

Fred Hussain (BSCC U9s manager and ECB level 2 coach).