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Western Warrior u11 v Eastern Eagles u11 - Scorecard, Match Report and Photo

The competitive season got underway when the Western Warriors U11 entertained Eastern Eagles at Arundel Cricket Club today. After heavy overnight rain, the wicket looked damp and slow and, with the forecast of a dry and bright afternoon, captain Adam Robinson chose to insert the opposition having won the toss.

This looked to have been the correct decision as, by the end of the 10th over, as a result of some excellent bowling by Niall Heaton, who claimed two scalps, and Spencer Morris and Aaron Sprake who took one apiece, coupled with a run out, the East were reduced to 31 – 5. This period saw some fine wicket keeping from Ben Roberts, who snapped up two catches, and followed this up with a third, to give Dan Sinsbury the sixth wicket, breaking up a dangerous partnership of 57, leaving the opponents 88 – 6 in the 20th over. A clever bit of thinking in the field during the next over lured both Eastern Eagles’ batsmen to the bowlers end, and a run out by the margin of some 18 yards ensued, thus removing a batsman who had been looking very comfortable on a score of 31. Jamie Piper picked up the next wicket when skipper, Adam Robinson, pocketed a stiff catch at mid off, 113 – 8, and Alex Moore returned for his second spell to remove the last two batsmen.

Eastern Eagles all out for 149 in the 37th over.

In reply, a steadfast Ben Roberts and Sam Moss opened the batting for the Warriors, and were looking relatively solid for the first few overs, attempting to see off the new ball. However, in the 6th over Ben was unable to get on top of a rising ball and cut straight to gully for 4. In the next two overs, Sam fell, driving uppishly to mid off for 1, and Niall Heaton gave himself too much room for an off drive and was bowled without scoring. At 9 – 3 from 8 overs, a steady partnership was required, and this came courtesy of Jack Dunn and Aaron Sprake, who batted sensibly for the next 12 overs bringing the West score up to 73 – 3. After half the innings, the match was perfectly poised with almost half the required runs scored, and over half the team still to bat. However, the next four overs saw Aaron fall for 28 spooning a full toss to mid off; Dan Sinsbury, after a beautiful cover drive, caught at mid wicket for 5; Adam Robinson caught without scoring; and Jack run out attempting an optimistic second run, leaving the team, somewhat languishing on 88 – 7.

With the balance of the match having swung back in favour of Eastern Eagles, a rebuilding job was badly needed. Enter Aaron Tugnutt and Jakob Heryet. Batting with great maturity under the circumstances, Aaron and Jakob, with some positive calling and great strokeplay, which included a straight six from Aaron, crafted a partnership of 53 putting the Warriors in a seemingly invincible position at 141 – 7 with 9 overs left. A position of comfort is not something the Warriors are used to, so when Jakob perished for 20, snicking the returning pace bowler behind to the keeper, followed by Alex Moore cutting a ball which was pouched at cover point for 1, a winning total seemed miles away at 142 – 9. However, with some sensible running by Aaron and new batsman, Jamie Piper, the scores were level at 149 a piece with over 7 overs left. An audacious scrambled final single by Jamie, backed up well by Aaron brought about victory for the Warriors by one wicket.

Western Warriors 150 – 9 from 33 overs

Western Warriors win by 1 wicket

The boys had taken on board the key learning points from the first friendly match at Portsmouth, and in similar batting conditions, had managed to bat for 33 overs compared to having previously been dismissed within 20 overs. Only one catch was dropped, which didn’t turn out to be too costly, some sharp, alert fielding by the West resulted in two run outs, but the old chestnut, Extras, turned out to be the East’s top scorer with 38. The West conceded 28 Wides which must be rectified if the Warriors are going to dominate their Group this year. Potentially 40 overs is a long time in the field and for players of this age to remain focussed for this amount of time is understandably difficult, but refining basic bowling techniques will achieve consistency and reduce the gifting of so many runs to the opposition. On balance though, an excellent performance by everyone, well done to them all.