With 6 of the U12s playing down in York, this afternoon was an opportunity for many others who have enjoyed their cricket this term yet not had all that many opportunities for playing in matches to don their whites (well, white cricket shirts and blue tracksuit bottoms on this occasion!) and head up to Perth on what was another a beautifully warm and sunny afternoon.  Craigclowan wanted to play a softball pairs match, so after winning the toss, we chose to bat first and post a score on their artificial wicket.

Generally, we batted well although the bowling we faced was not very accurate and difficult to hit away on a bouncing astro wicket; I always say that it is easier to bat against quality bowling as you know where the ball is going to bounce whereas this afternoon, it was very difficult to predict.  However, Theo was the batter of the day, playing some proper cricket shots although boundaries were at a premium due to the long grass in the outfield.  Mack also hit some good shots and we posted 82 runs taking in to account losing 5 runs for each wicket we lost.  There was a bit of harm scrum running between the wickets with one pair and just because it is a softball, there is no need to stop playing proper cricket shots rather than popping the ball up in to the air.  That said, I was delighted to see everyone enjoy their batting and it would certainly be a challenging total for Craigclowan to chase down.

Our bowling was excellent.  Very few extras, and we bowled straight; as a result, wickets fell and very soon Craigclowan were way behind the run rate required and the result was never in doubt.  I was impressed with Alexander's bowling, and he deserved his second over; William also bowled well, and our fielding was excellent: we were alert and took some good catches on what was a warm afternoon.  In the end, Craigclowan fell around 40 odd runs short and so we headed up for a delicious match tea, including some much needed refreshing ice cream!  Marvellous!  Well played, boys: it was a pleasure to take you toady and even more so to see how much your cricket has developed this term, with everyone able to blow straight - and this makes such a difference!