U13 DIV1 versus Bexley

A really good start to our U13 DIV1 season, not a winning start but still a good one.

We played a very good Bexley side, last year we beat them, this year they beat us, it’s a very even competition between the two sides and played in a great spirit.

Led by Riley and assisted by Thomas for this match, we discussed how the boys would make this team their own, making their own decisions on what to do and how to play and I expected it would be a learning experience.

Put into bat by Bexley, Arnav put his hand up to open along with Thomas knowing they would face Jatin, one of the Kent U13 pace bowlers. With the first 4 overs down we had lost Thomas but Arnav was looking in complete control and we were through the opening pair of bowlers. Riley and Arnav played with caution for the next two overs before picking the pace up and in the 10th over Riley lost his wicket as he looked to accelerate and Arnav retired on a very well earned 25 runs with the team on 45 and needing to up the pace. What followed was a very good team effort with Max, Will, Zak and Suhaan all contributing with the bat at an average strike rate of 80 leaving us on a pretty competitive score of 118.

Into the field with some excellent bowling from Suhaan, Zak, Max, Thomas & Steven, but even they were punished for any poor deliveries by a very good batting lineup. Some reward for the bowling was taking the top 3 batsman which included Kevin, the very talented Kent opening batsman. The 4 wickets included a couple of good catches with Will almost taking another as he stopped a potential six. Harry also gave in a tremendous performance in the field putting a lot of pressure on the batting side. In the end Bexley won with breathing room reaching 119 in the 18th over. Congratulations to them for a very good win.

In the post match team talk we identified the need to tighten up the fielding and refine our field positions which includes us settling into who sets the field. In hindsight I think our bowling was not as tight as it has been in the past but I’m confident these boys will turn it into a real strength again. There were also several strong candidates for man of the match including Thomas, Steven, Max, Arnav and Suhaan, but feeling all round was that it belonged to Zak for his great bowling, batting and fielding, well done Zak and all the boys for a very promising start.