Chiswick CC vs Ealing CC

Ealing travelled to Chiswick for a 20 over game of standard rules cricket. Tom M, our captain for the day lost the toss and we were asked to bat. Jack M and Tom M opened the batting, and it wasn’t long before we lost our first wicket. Tom M playing down the wrong line to a ball that hit the top of off stump. However, Aidan M who came in at number 3 helped steady the ship alongside Jack M and built a decent partnership. They rotated the strike well and the run rate was going at just over 4 per over. Just when the boys had their eye in, and were about to up the run rate, Jack M fell LBW to a ball that hit him on the back leg. Aryan was the next batsman in and played himself in sensibly. He was then run out shortly afterwards by a direct hit. Perhaps he may have made his ground if he had run his bat in, as we always emphasise at training. Aidan found his way back to the pavilion not long afterwards. He tried to pull a full delivery that hit the top of the stumps. With Ealing now on 59 for 4, it was upto Arun G to take the lead role and support the tail end batsman. Tanush was then bowled to a ball that went straight on and Jake was run out by attempting a suicidal run. With Ealing struggling on 64 for 5, Lucas SA, Nicholas, and Aman S were all bowled first ball to give the Chiswick bowler his hatrick, which resulted in exuberant celebrations . All three players failing to play with a straight bat, thus allowing the ball to hit the timber. Ealing managed to bat out their 20 overs, which I was extremely pleased with and was my main aim before the game started. We finished on 71 for 9 and therefore had something to defend

If, I had restricted the bowling to a handful of bowlers, I’m sure we could have defended this total. However, with this game being a friendly, and me experimenting with the team, I decided to give the full team a bowl. Wickets were shared between Jack M (1), Arun G (1), Nicholas (1), Aman (1), and Jake (2). Catches win matches and Jack took a great catch of his own bowling to let Chiswick know that we would fight right to the end. Aman also bowled a peach of a delivery that spun beautifully from leg stump to hit the top of off stump. Many 9 year old batsmen would have struggled to play that delivery. In the end, Chiswick chased down the runs in the 17th over, but we played on till the 20th so that all of our bowlers would get a bowl and most of their batsman would get a bat. Bear in mind, that their top scorer was a 10 year old, our boys have plenty to be proud of. There are many positives that we could take from this performance, but again also some areas to work on i.e play with a straight bat or you are likely to get bowled, walk in as the bowler is running in, and do not stop the ball with your foot, as I saw on a couple of occasions