U11A Rugby v Craigclowan

Won by 6 wickets

With some of the Under-11A team away in York, the opportunity to play a hard-ball match was given to some of the boys who had less experience of such an occasion and their excitement was clearly evident as they walked out to the field.

Craigclowan won the toss and chose to bat, and with the captain (Toby) bowling they were faced with a threat from the first over as he put every bowl on stumps. The next over was Max's, where he took the first of his two wickets, utilising his pace to good effect. Competent overs where then delivered by the rest of the team, six of them picking a wicket each. The bowling display demonstrated the progress made in their bowling over the course of the season as they limited the opposition to 70/8 in 28 overs, with the tail-end of the batting digging in for the last 10 overs.

Whilst the target might not have been high, the boys understood they still had to play sensible cricket to be assured of reaching it. David and Michael went to the middle first and got off to a calm, cool start communicating well and notching up the first runs for the team before David was dismissed on the last ball of the second over - a marvellous delivery. Michael stuck in there until the 6th over when he was also bowled after a short partnership with Max. Stuart and Oliver then put up a useful partnership together, sharing the scoring equally. The two batters were retired and Leo and Geordie did a stint in the middle Leo succumbed to a fine caught and bowled after had just swatted away a fine 4. Geordie was given lbw in the next over despite striking the ball well before that. Arthur had a good cameo with the bat, along with Theo, who had the highest strike rate of the match, 100%, and hit two fours, the second of which surpassed the target of 70.

Well done to all the boys for a fine effort, particularly in their bowling and fielding, where the real work in winning the match was done - and to Toby for competently guiding and positioning the team effectively.