Long Ditton U13’s vs Malden Wanderers Sunday 30th May 2010
With a win under their belts and a hard training session on Wednesday Ditton arrived at MW in confident mood. This increased as Sam took a great catch second ball of Matt’s bowling. The coaches who had spent an hour working on the teams catching mid week smiled smugly to each other. These smiles were quickly wiped off their faces as Ditton then dropped two ‘sitters’. These drops cost Ditton some 40 runs as the Wanderers batsman made the most of their luck. William bowled brilliantly but somehow did not take a wicket as every ball seemed to beat the bat and stumps. Louis and Henry then bowled very well with Louis taking 2-10 off his 4 overs whilst Henry bowled even better than last week but did not get a wicket to add to his 6 last week. The ball was then tossed to Joe in the space of a week has turned himself into a quality spin bowler. He took 1 for 6 during a great spell. Peter again showed he is the squad’s best fielder as he was involved in 2 run outs and Jacob was brilliant behind the stumps only conceding 3 byes. MW reached 134 for 8 off 24 overs.
Ditton again got off to a great start as Hugo and Matthew reached 25. Hugo was bowled as was William shortly afterwards. Sam joined Matthew and they reached 97. Matthew batted brilliantly and won the man of the match award as he hit 7 fours and 1 six which landed in the tennis courts. He retired not out on 42 as Ditton looked certain to win needing 50 off the last ten overs with 8 wickets in hand. MW then bowled well but Ditton’s run rate slowed as the batsman failed to hit the bad balls and only hit one boundary in the last 10 overs which with the tiny boundary was not good enough. Ditton ended 9 runs short on 125 for 5 which was bitterly disappointing as they should have won with an over or two to spare. Finn reached 8 and Henry was 16 not out. A good performance against one of Surrey’s best sides but Ditton are now good enough to beat these sides and must take their chances.
Long Ditton U13’s vs Spencer Monday 31st May 2010
Spencer and their Surrey stars were next up and the boys were fearful as they had lost by 220 runs to them last year. Although Spencer were strong they were not as strong as last year’s side but the boys only started to believe in themselves when it was to late. Hugo L who became a teenager today celebrated his birthday with a great catch as Henry took an early wicket. Matt, Joe and Louis all bowled well without reward but this was against some very strong Spencer batting and getting wickets was very difficult. Spencer then dominated as Ditton’s performance dipped with some good fielding mixed with the truly awful. Spencer reached 139 for 1 before Ditton fought back. Hugo L took two wickets, Peter one and three runs outs meant Spencer reached 160 for 6 off 24 overs.
Ditton responded well following Hugo L ‘s early dismissal. Matthew and Sam again batted very well with Sam making 21 with 3 lovely boundaries. Matthew reached his 40 in quick time smashing 8 boundaries to all parts of the ground as a good Spencer bowling attack was made to look ordinary. He retired and Hugo J then smashed the ball to the mid wicket boundary. During this our umpire Jonesy provided much entertainment as a number of people thought they could take advantage of the elderly grey haired gentleman. The dog walker who screamed ‘wide’ at him, the firestarter in the allotments and some sledgers in the oppo all ran for cover as he stopped the match at various stages to issue serious words of advice. Needless to say the fire was put out and the dog not seen again. He then gave Jacob out LBW for 0 as the ball hit his chest. Jacob seeing what had gone before muttered the immortal line ‘good decision Sir’ as he walked off. Joe then came into bat and smashed a great 22 not out to claim the man of the match award. Ditton ended on 120 for 5 which was a great come back.
Many thanks to Ian and Jonesy for umpiring and Neville and Sean for scoring.