It was a sunny yet windy setting for The Colts C's first match of the season against Ashfold. We played at BSA and unfortunately came up just short against a strong opposition.
We played in a softball pairs format with both teams starting on 100 runs. Any runs scored would be added to the total, however, any wickets lost would result in -5 runs. Bruern won the toss and elected to bat first.
Theo S and Zac E opened the batting and got us off to a strong start. With the wind picking up, it was tricky softball conditions for both batsmen and bowlers. Max D and the captain of the side Usman S then came to the crease. Both played some lovely shots, including 2 boundaries from Usman. Halfway through our innings, we were on 107 runs. However, with bails now falling off on their own due to the wind, it was not going to be easy to maintain our standards.
Up stepped Ethan S and James C, who scored nearly 30 runs between the two of them for the loss of just 2 wickets. Bruern were now on 123 with just one pair left to bat. Oscar B came into bat and played some nice shots, whilst a late call-up, Mark R was at the other end punishing any bad balls. Mark's strategy of hit and run caused the opposition some problems and picked up some vital runs for us. Despite this, we did lose some more wickets, which left Bruern on 111 after our innings.
After a quick turnaround and a recap of our plan for the second half of the match, we were back out there bowling. Each boy bowled 2 overs each and for many of them, this was their first time bowling in a match scenario. The boys gave their best efforts and despite a couple of wickets, the Ashfold batsmen proved too strong for us. Max D and Usman S were impressive in the field, with both boys getting themselves into catching opportunities.
Unfortunately, we couldn't quite outplay the strong Ashfold side. However, the sun was out and it did start to feel like summer! The boys gave it 100% and that is all I ask of them as a coach. They should all be proud of themselves, especially those of them for whom this was their first-ever competitive cricket match.
Thank you as well to those parents who came to watch and I wish you all a lovely bank holiday weekend!
Mr Barrett
