The objective of the match was all about ensuring we gave boys game time, especially those with fewer matches. It was especially pleasing to give man of the match to Freddie playing in only his second match of the season, taking one wicket for eight runs in his two overs, well done Freddie.
Loosing the toss and going into bat, we made a very tentative start leaving a lot of runs "unclaimed" out on the pitch. I gave the boys more balls than normal before retiring them, largely because they were starting to "get it" and I thought it would be a good confidence boost, but it did mean fewer boys got to bat than I would have liked. The standout was George with 19 off 33 which was more impressive if you consider all the wide deliveries. A good cameo from Sam with 8 off 10 deliveries and Thomas, Tom and Owen all looking positive.
Into bowl and the lack of game time for a few showed, with us giving away 40 extras most of which came in the first ten overs. We also faced a couple of quality batsman who both retired on 25 which is all that was required for Sidcup to get over the line in the 19th over. On a positive note we did take 3 wickets and the fielding in the second half was an improvement - it's always great to see improvement in the match.
Great news is a number of the boys get to play again in the final match next week and they will be boosted by some more experienced players to help bring out the best in them, let's finish with a great performance!