Shepherd's Bush U11 vs Ealing U11A

This was a very good win against a tidy Shepherd's Bush side. The pitch was true and consistent, but a little on the slow side - no batsman from either side ever truly got in.

With 15 overs-a-side agreed in advance Harjot won the toss and decided to bat. He and Ayaan made steady progress reaching 27 at the end of 5 overs. Harjot fell for 10, LBW to a hooping inswinger, but Jared and Ayaan accelerated (helped by a sudden rush of wides and no balls, and at 65 for 1 mid way through the 10th over, a score in excess of 100 looked well within reach. But after Jared chased a wide one and was caught behind for a typically fluent 18 from 20 balls, we rather ran out of steam. Ayaan was eventually run out for a gutsy 14 with an over to go, and after a couple more wickets we finished on 86 for 5 from our 15 overs.

If the batting left an impression of opportunities missed, the bowling and fielding were relentlessly good. William (1 for 7) and Rishab (0 for 8) led the way with tight lines and nagging lengths. Jilal (1 for 9) and Harjot (0 for 7) bowled accurately and with pace to maintain the pressure, and after 10 overs Shepherd's Bush were way off the pace at 37 for 2. (Special mention here for a quite outstanding piece of bowling by Jilal which softened up SB's outstanding player and then cleaned him up with a lightning-fast Yorker.) Whilst SB managed to pick up the pace through the next couple of overs, Nathan took 3 wickets (demonstrating the value of bowling at the wickets) and an outstanding final over from Scott brought proceedings to a close at 70 for 6.

So in short:
Ealing U11A 86-5 from 15 overs (Jared 18; Ayaan 14; Harjot 10)
Shepherd's Bush 70-6 from 15 overs (Nathan 3 for 9; William 1 for 7; Jilal 1 for 9)
Ealing U11A won by 16 runs

An apparently comfortable win, then, though plenty of learnings - especially for the batting. A truly excellent performance in the field promises much for the season.