U11’s Old Rutishians vs Long Ditton – Sunday May 15th. Match report by
Parrish
On a
desolate and windswept playing field,
skipper Freddie won the toss and elected to put Old Ruts into bat . Their openers were tall, big hitters who made
several boundaries in the opening minutes.
Jamie bowled an efficient over, coming back from a recent eye injury,
and then Felix broke through in the 3rd taking the first of an excellent 4 wicket
haul. When Imogen came on in the 5th she took a wicket immediately,
ripping the stumps from the ground. Several
good chances were put down, mistakes which would go on to influence the result
of the match. Old Ruts batsmen found the gaps in the field well, and
it was only when Ollie Carter took the ball that the Colts finally managed to
dislodge the next batsman. Ollie took 3 wickets in successive overs – at one
point being on a hat trick. Wicket
keeper Leo Rogers stepped up with three quick stumpings ( 2 off the bowling of Felix , 1 off Ollie) and Jack Harrup made it through nervous first over in a competitive
match. Some good stops in the field from
Freddie , Oliver Leaning , Ben Harup, Tom Webb and Tommy Lunt restricted the
Old Ruts to 131 for 8.
Long Ditton
knew they were in for a tough time replying from the moment the first ball was
unleashed. Opening batsman Freddie could have barely seen it such was its
speed. Old Rutlishians fielded three of the fastest bowlers the Colts have
faced all season, and they picked off the batsmen with some style. Freddie was out on the second ball, and it was down to Imogen
and Jamie to steady the ship. They had no choice but to play defensively but
that meant scoring was very slow. Jamie fell to a magnificant sliding catch in
the 9th over, making way for Oliver Leaning, who made 4 before being
bowled in the 12th. At 52-3
after 13 overs, Long Ditton had a mountain to climb. Imogen stayed at the crease until enforced
retirement on 31 in the 17th but there was nothing the Colts could do when Old
Ruts brought their top bowlers back on to mop up. Ben, Felix and Leo all fell
in quick succession, leaving Long Ditton
on 97 for 6, 35 runs short.
Umpire
: Brian Boxall. Scorer : Claire Neely.
The Under 12s carried on their winning start to the season, beating local rivals Thames Ditton, a very strong Under 13s side beat Worcester Park and the Under 15s lost by 30 runs in their fixture against Old Rutlishians