U13 DIV1 vs Sidcup

I'm going to have to call out the villain right from the start, the weather! It was pretty awful with some of us having spent the whole day in the cold and wet. By the time we went into field, Noah himself would have been battening down the hatches. I'm hoping June will transform the weather like a butterfly from it's cocoon. The heros have to be the parents for bringing their boys down and supporting from the sidelines, a medal is surely due.
While the loss was disappointing, under these conditions it's ironically like water off a ducks back because I know the weather is a big factor in the performance and the result is not something to be taken to heart. This has also been a pretty lousy month trying to get a full team together and it's a lot less frustrating if you know when to roll with the punches and take what you can out of matches. So I will once again celebrate the good and touch on what we will do to improve with the expectation that we will be in a better position all-round after half term.
Firstly, what a lovely knock by Arnav, our opening batsman. A perfectly well judged and executed 28 not out from 30 deliveries. There is no doubt we have ourselves a quality opener from which to build. Especially impressive considering his opening partner went out second ball when he spied a short ball ripe for pulling. In stepped Will who built a 68 run partnership with Arnav, himself scoring 20 from 34. While we know Will can smack the ball, what we saw today was some very solid defensive work which bodes well for future matches when we get a more attacking balance. At no 4, we are starting to see the beginnings of Charley's return to more positive batting with some excellent calling and dare I saw very adventurous running. Absolute love this because I can see him getting better game on game and by the end of the season I predict a 15 ball "25 not out" innings.
George choosing the number 5 spot for stepping up to the keeping duties (in which he did an excellent job) was unfortunately ducked by their top bowler which led to Noah coming to the crease. What an innings and something I think many of us have been eagerly anticipating from this agile young lad. He hit three fours and they were each a joy to behold, the first run off the bat past 3rd man nullifying what would have otherwise been good bowling. Then a cracking square drive and leaving the best for last, knowing that we needed to accelerate, he came down the pitch and hit a beautiful straight drive past the bowler. Absolute class and I felt very disappointed for him that he had to retire injured on 17 off 23, because I'm sure the final 8 runs would have come in 4 or 5 deliveries.
At the crease with Noah and seeing us through to the end was Daniel scoring 17 off 11 with the highest strike rate in the team. A really excellent knock from Daniel, full of positivity and power. I remember he had just bit a very powerful punch (through cover I think) and then asked me, "shall we go for it". "Absolutely" I said and so he did - love that!
Going into the field, practically on-cue, the weather turned to Wuthering Heights in winter, or at least that is what it felt like to me. The batting from Sidcup was actually pretty good and any bad deliveries were dealt with by their big hitters. We had an impressive spell of bowling by Thomas with his 2 overs going for 2 runs and Will going for 8 runs from his two including a lovely top of stumps wicket. There was also predictably good bowling by Arnav and while there were some great deliveries by all bowlers, with cold hands and bodies not helping, there were the inevitable loose deliveries which allowed Sidcup to stay ahead of the run rate and ultimately overtake our score in the 19th over.
Well done to the Sidcup lads who were in jubilant spirits. The moment of the match however was Olly (Wills U11 brother) bowling to one large lad currently on 15 off 15, pitching it dangerously wide the batsman came down the track to hit it, missed it completely and George who was our part time keeper filling in for an injured Steven lifted the bails, terrific work by both boys.
Probably the main thing to take away from the match is that: 1) Captaining is difficult and we need all the players to work with and support the captain, 2) We have to work harder with our fielding to get into position to stop and catch balls and we will absolutely be practicing this in future Friday sessions.
Onwards and upwards.