U13 Lions Match Report – AWAY vs New Rover.

With all the rain that fell during Saturday it was a testimony to the ground staff at New Rover that we got a game on this morning. Our skipper Charlie had already decided that he fancied a bowl if we won the toss. Tails was the call from skipper and tails it was. New Rover were duly put into bat.

New Rover U13s with two of Leos U11 in the squad (with our blessing and permission to gain valuable experience), one Jake Nichols and the other Jack Hudson. So with bragging rights in the Hudson household to play for Charlie tossed the ball to Joe Ellis to open from the Adel Lane end.

The opening batsman clearly looking to open with intent and middle the first delivery. Unfortunately for him our skipper had started with his now customary aggressive field and the ball was snaffled by him at short mid on. 1 ball 1 wicket! Joe went on to finish the over with a wicket maiden.

We now had the two U11s for Jake and Jack at the crease. We all knew that both batters would punish any bad balls and would look to play their shots. Anything down leg was getting dispatched and we were in danger of letting this pair build a very strong platform for the rest of the batting line up. Joe onto his last over his spell and he bowled Jake. The partnership was broken and Jake walked off with a very handy 12. Zain up for his second over and he bowled their number 4, Wonderful deliver and Zain just taking a bit of pace of his bowling and focusing on line and length was great to see. He finished with figures of 3 overs 1 for 12.

Asad up next and a super wicket to get on his first ball. Jack Hudson holing out to our skipper for his second catch of the match. Two further wickets on his last two balls. One caught by Joe Ellis and the other by Charlie (I think), leaving Asad on a hat-trick next over.

Asad, unfortunately missing out on his hat-trick but a sharp runout next ball from Arran brought their last batsman to the crease. Asad finished his spell 2 overs 3 for 8.

Michael next up bowling some lovely straight deliveries that troubled the batsman. On the four ball of his over there was a good shout for a catch. AbdurRaffey moving sharply to the left it was going to take something special to get the ball and he delivered with a superb lunge followed by a one handed catch to finish the New Rover innings at 58 all out.

Excellent bowling and fielding everyone. Another 5 catches taking our tally to 14 from the last two games. Extras again under 10 (9) which is good to see. Let’s aim for less than 9 extras next week. Another good performance by Arran Sparrow behind the stumps.

So, 3 an over would win the game for us but realistically we wanted to win it with overs in spare. So, 4 an over was the idea. Find the gaps and keep the scoreboard ticking over. Asad and Charlie to open.

First over and all very watchful from our opener with a good maiden from the bowler. Second over and Asad (0) fell caught behind by Jack Hudson. 0 for 1 but plenty of batting to come. Joe Ellis in next and he and Charlie started to get the scoreboard moving. Joe finding the gaps and the boundary well.

Charlie fell to a very good ball for 7 and then Joe retired on 25 after hitting a lovely 6 followed by a four! Well batted Joe, hopefully the first of many retirements this season. Zain and Muaz now in together finding runs difficult to come across. Muaz hitting a lovely leg side 4 to take some of the pressure off that had been building. The scoreboard ticking over slowly and runs getting harder. Dots balls are good balls was the shout from New Rover as more and more pressure was placed on our young batsman. A good shot from Muaz and a definite single but some excellent fielding and sharp throw to their keeper and he was run out. We need to remember to be ready to run from the non-strikers end and start walking down the pitch as the bowler is on his run up.

Arran off the mark quickly but then succumbed to an excellent deliver. Pressure was building now. AbdurRaffey in next bat to ball and looked to push for a cheeky single. “No!” was the call from the other end as he tried to get back into his crease but a sharp piece of fielding from their keeper and he was gone. Muaz and Jay together at the crease. The score now 55 in over 18. 4 runs from 12 balls. The pressure!

19 over finished and only 2 runs from it. The score now 57. 2 to win from 6 balls. Jake Nichols to deliver the final over. Dot ball. Single (scores level). Dot ball. Run out – Muaz run out. Enter Joe Robb. 1 run to win of two balls. Jay facing. “We have had a chat and he is just going to tap it and I’m running!” said Joe to me. “I’m shaking”, he said. “So am I” was the response from me!

Jake back to his mark and running in. The delivery down the leg side, Jay trying to get bat on it, their keeper moving sharply from to the left but just missing. “Run!” was the shout from Joe Robb who was already half way down the pitch. Jay took off and made his ground at the other end.

Victory to Leos Juniors with one ball to spare! Brilliant game of cricket played in a great spirit by both sides. Thanks to New Rover and good luck with the rest of their season.

Performances of the day

Batting: Joe Ellis. Great knock retired not out 25.

Bowling: Asad Ahmed. Great spell of spin bowling. 2 overs 3 for 8.

Fielding: AbdurRafey. Superb one handed catch.

Champagne moment:

The winning run from Jay and Joe. You can watch the video at the following link. https://www.facebook.com/leosjuniors/videos/1877744829179577/

Thanks to Scott Sparrow for scoring and Iain for organising the batsman and the for the video.