Wednesday saw our U13’s in their second match of season, this time against Chapel en-le-Frith. As the away team, Chapel chose to bat first. Their opening pair made a solid start with a score of 25 and no loss of wickets. The next 6 overs saw a number of missed chances for catches and stumping by High Lane, but nevertheless it did show the improvement in fielding that our boys have been working hard on during training. It took until the final ball of the 10th over before Chapel lost their first wicket, and it was taken by John Taylor bowling in his first over of his first match. The second wicket fell by run out in the 16th over, when our quick fielding didn’t give the Chapel non striker time to make his ground. The final 4 overs of Chapel’s innings we held to only 11 runs, but with the loss of 2 additional wickets both of which went to some lovely bowling by Ben Finley with Chapel finish with a score of 246.
High Lane got off to a good start, scoring 11 in the opening over thanks to a 4 boundary by Ben Finley. We lost our first wicket in the 3rd over, but our opening pair continued to pick up singles wherever they could finish their 4 overs on 16 runs gained. By the end of the 8th over we’d lost a further 3 wickets, bringing our score to roughly where it was after the first over had finished. What was great to see at this point though, was that none of the team became discouraged, they still felt that the game was theirs to win. At around this point one of the Chapel players had to leave the field due to injury, so one of our players not on the team roster but still there to cheer on his teammates, jumped in to help out by fielding the remainder of the match (thanks go out to Tom Barber).
By the halfway point of the match, Tom Wood and Sam Shepherd were on the crease and in only his second cricket match, Tom Wood manages to hit 4 boundaries for 4 each, plus they also ran a couple of singles. They finished their stint with a score of 23. With the loss of another wicket in the 15th over, it was still all to play for. Thanks to a boundary for 4 by George Hardie on his very first ball, we were within a run or two away from taking the lead. By the start of the final over High Lane were 4 runs in the lead, but it would only take the loss of a single wicket for us to go 1 run behind.
Both teams are cheering their teammates on, whether batting or fielding, both knowing that it is still all to play for. Up to this point John Taylor had faced 7 balls in his first ever match of cricket, he is now facing in the final over to try and win the match! As each ball is delivered, he plays clean defensive shot after shot, never letting the ball get anywhere near a place where it could be caught. As the final ball is played and there is no loss of wicket, all of the boys are looking at each other wondering if what they think has happened, has actually happened. Before bedlam ensues as the score finally sinks in. High Lane finish with a score of 250, and their first win of the season.
This was a really even match that could have gone either way for both teams at any time, a thoroughly enjoyable (but stressful) match to watch. This was a massive improvement in fielding, bowling, and batting by the whole team. Well done lads!!