Thongsbridge U11s start season in style

The last Wednesday of April, and the U11’s cricket season was ready to get into full swing with Thongsbridge raring to get their 2021 campaign off to a flyer. Following the previous night’s downpours, and with a hint of mid-afternoon sun doing its best at peaking through an overcast sky, the 17 yard wicket was looking fantastic. Tenderly cut and rolled by our very own Mrs Marshall, the pitch, sporting a lovely green top, would surely be ready to offer assistance to the bowlers in notching up some early season wickets.

With an uncontested toss, Thongsbridge elected to put the visitors into bat first (not least as the opposition were still waiting for their wicketkeeper to arrive with two minutes until the scheduled start!). Captained by Yorkshire’s very own Lilly Newman, Thongsbridge took to the field with a spring in their step, ready to start the season in style.

With the new ball in hand, Solomon and Lilly provided some great line and length bowling, restricting Armitage Bridge’s openers to 18 runs from the first four overs.

First change saw Finnan and Bryn come into the attack, the latter offering a change in angles by shaping it away from both right-handed batsman with his left arm over the wicket deliveries. With a bowled and caught off his second ball, Bryn set the tone for the rest of the match. Finnan’s took the visitor’s third wicket when a full length delivery was scooped up only for a spectacular (albeit needing a few goes to hold on to it) catch by Theo, who was standing poised at mid-wicket.

The destructive Noah, clearly firing on all cylinders, pinned back their middle order, picking up 2 wickets. Young Jacob, on debut for the U11s, made sure he didn’t miss out adding to growing tally in the wickets column, his earlier pre-match predictions of it being a bowlers’ wicket, certainly coming true.

Taking advantage of the full delivery, William continued to restrict the Armitage Bridge batsmen, picking up a maiden over for his efforts. In the field Thongsbridge remained a tight unit, operating as a team. Despite the somewhat chilly 7 degrees, energy levels in the field remained high with great commitment shown by all. Not least by Bryn, who made amends within seconds having put down a skyer when fielding at mid-wicket, only to launch the ball at the one visible stump and securing a run out with a direct hit.

Thongsbridge continued to squeeze their opposition in the middle overs, only allowing the visitors to add 16 runs between the 10th and 16th over, testament to some splendid bowling and fielding.

With the last batting pair remaining, Theo and Tristan set about ensuring their was no let up in the attack, with both picking up some late wickets and an impressive double wicket maiden for Tristan in the 19th over.

Armitage Bridge brought their innings to a close, setting Thongsbridge a target of 199. Confidence in the Thongsbridge dressing room was high going into the innings break, despite the manager’s best efforts to remind them they were only halfway to securing their first win of the season.

Armitage Bridge 199/12

It then came time for Lilly and Solomon to mark their guards, and get Thongsbridge off to a good start with the bat. Seeing off the new ball from some very quick bowling, Thongsbridge’s openers laid a platform for the rest of the innings.

Finnan set about scoring quickly, with his first delivery being dispatched over the heads of deep-cover only to fall centimetres short of a maximum. Continuing his search for the boundary, Finnan soon set about dispatching the ball, on three occasions, to the square-leg boundary. Bryn, putting a few loose balls skywards, managed to find the gaps in the field and racked up some quick singles.

Jacob and Noah managed to notch up an 18 run partnership, with some good attritional run scoring, and indeed a very respectable partnership given the varying quality of some of the deliveries faced. The (now hypothermic) crowd were also treated to one or two of Jacob’s flamboyant (signature?) leaves, a leave which would surely have Steve Smith asking himself if he was looking in a mirror.

With whispers of ‘can we reach 300?’ starting to circulate the Thongsbridge dressing room, it was time for William and Mason to take to the middle. Both boys added to Thongsbridge’s increasing total, with William wasting no time and finding the boundary at first time of asking. Mason showed excellent discipline with the bat, waiting to score off the bad balls and some good running between the wickets.

With four overs remaining Theo and Tristan set about showing how they can dominate at the death with bat, as well as ball. Boundary after boundary made sure Thongsbridge surpassed 300, with the pair adding a further 23 runs.

Thongsbridge 318/1

Winning by 119 runs, Thongsbridge had started the season by securing the maximum 4 points on offer. For Mason, a very well deserved Player of the Match award in recognition of his heroics behind the stumps for the first time, and barely flinching even when taking a loose one on the ribs .

The attitude by all those involved was exemplary, as was their sportsmanship and sense of togetherness, all of which hopefully bodes well for the season ahead.