This season Long Ditton is taking part in the ECB cricket initiative called All Stars Cricket, to encourage young players between 5 and 9 to enjoy the game. Each player who signs up receives a bat, T-shirt, backpack, water bottle and cap. The cost is £90 and includes season membership and coaching. Only limited places remain, as over 30 are already signed up. To see more info click on the Colts section of the website.

Long Ditton U-11 won by 7 wickets

Worcester Park 85-8 Edward A 3-0-3-3, Idris 3-0-13-2, Connor 3-0-24-1, Cameron 1-0-2-1

Long Ditton 89-3 Alex G 31*Retd, Connor H 18, Cameron 10*, Alex E 7*

Umpire: Tim G, Scorers : Rob W, Mark H Honorary ‘Guvnor’ : David S! Thanks
MotM: Cameron: Excellent solitary over, consistently good fielding and a run out throw. 10 not out in 25 run winning partnership with Alex E.

Champagne moment: Alex nearly decapitating fielder with midwicket drive to the boundary and beyond. Apparently an antipodean spectator remarked it would have been 4 at the Wacca!

After Wednesdays debacle it was back to business as usual with a thumping win inside 14 overs. Despite mass traffic jams and late arrivals David S took control and before we knew it Worcester Park were batting. Within 6 or 7 overs they had 40 on the board and we were being put to the sword by a very talented young lady! Fortunately the backup wasn’t so good and instead of facing in excess of a 100 we hustled them out for 85. Another great bowling performance from Edward narrowly missed out on MoTM this week and Connor and Edward both snapped up good catches. Matt was dynamic behind the stumps and combined well with Cameron for a great run out! Idris ignored 48hr advice and turned in another robust opening spell coming back to claim his second wicket.

Thomas and Connor got us off to a good start but then Connor got carried away again after hitting 4 4’s in 5 balls! He has now passed 100 runs for the season! Cameron then became a spectator as Alex G took advantage of some loose bowling to spank 31* in 3 overs. With that impetus it was a shame Matt couldn’t take advantage but Cameron and Alex E combined for a really pleasing unbeaten 25 run partnership to see us home.

We really did bounce back!

See you Monday night at home for the last league game and Wednesday for the Ditty Derby U-11 style. Wednesday team sheet to follow. Don’t forget Sun 31st is a friendly fixture. We have only 5 available so far but will extend to U-10 and maybe young U-12 to fulfil.

Cheers

LDCC U-11 95-2 Beat Leatherhead 54-9 (all out) by 41 runs
Umpire: Tim , Scorer Rob, Jonnie, Colts Café: Lesley, Diane, Ian

LDCC 95-2 : Connor 23*, Edward 12*, Sam 8
Leatherhead 54-9 all out : Edward 1-0-2-2, Thomas 3-0-7-2, Rafe 3-0-13-2

Man of the match: The whole team!
Champagne moment: Thomas catch to dismiss Leatherheads top batsman.
Prosecco moments: Louie catch! Alex catch!, Connor catch!, Dylan direct hit run out, Benedict quick work run out

What a match! Tough batting conditions after heavy rains in the week meant runs off the bat were hard to come by. Connor and Sam gave us a great start though with a 32 run partnership swelled by some wayward bowling. Sam got a bit of a grubber after another punchy little innings after which Louie joined Connor for a more sedate partnership of 18. Louie exhibiting a very solid array of strokes for not much reward- wait for the hard fast wickets! After Louie’s watchful stay Edward joined Connor to boost the score with an unbroken 45 run partnership. Edward and Connor both exhibiting some fine attacking strokes to push us close to 100.

Idris made the early breakthrough with the help of a great catch from Louie! However after 2 overs Leatherhead were 20-1! Idris unfortunately feeding Freddie’s favourite shot to leg. At 39-1 in 5 overs things were not looking good for LDCC. However, our cunning and accurate medium pace trio of Rafe, Thomas and Edward produced an incredible turnaround as Leatherhead collapsed to 54 all out after their star batsman fell to the catch of the season by Thomas. Panic set in as Dylan claimed a fine run out and every catch on offer was bagged! Edward cleaned up with 2 wickets in two balls to be on a hat trick next time.

What an absolutely amazing match – great catches, fielding, batting, bowling and all round entertainment.

Only one blot on our copybook. The boys must remember to maintain sportsmanlike behaviour even in the excitement of a great win. We need to applaud the batsmen off, then line up and shake hands with the opposition. Three cheers should also be called by the skipper.

Big thanks to Lesley, Diane and Ian for manning the colts café which did a roaring trade!!!

Cheers,

Tim

Long Ditton – 267 for 7

Hampton Wick – 266 for 5

An impressive victory against a good Hampton Wick U9 side that had a great deal of match experience.

Batting first, LD established a brisk run rate, with excellent hitting and sharp running between the wickets, albeit at the cost of a few run-outs. With scoring contributions all down the order, a total of 267 was achieved.

Taking the field, LD put the pressure on HW with accurate bowling, sharp fielding and good organisation. It was great to see them talking and encouraging their team-mates.

Wickets fell regularly and the match remained winnable throughout, thanks in large part to Barney’s work behind the stumps keeping the extra count down. But going in to the final over HW needed just four runs to win.

Ben sent down the first five balls at the cost of just two runs, with the LD fielders showing great reactions to anything coming off the bat.

That left HW needing 2 runs to win from the final ball – up stepped cool-headed Ben to close the show with another dot ball.

Well done to LD – all contributed and the game was played in great spirit by both sides.

Man of the match: Barney, for conceding just 1 bye in the entire innings – almost unheard of in Colts cricket.

Champagne Moment: Sam holding a superb catch off a high and hard HW hard slog early on to set the positive tone for LD in the field

Other coach’s commendations:

· Alex: powerful hitting kept the run-rate ticking and the oppo on the back foot

· Ethan: fearsome bowling that the oppo did not enjoy – 11 dot balls in two overs

· William: tight field-setting kept HW’s scoring in check, and had the batsmen under pressure bowling consistent length

· Reuben – solid at the crease and served up some key dot balls against the stronger HW batsmen

· Natalie – scored her runs playing proper cricket shots, and a wicket to boot

· Ben – that match-winning final over

· Louis – runs, a wicket, and super-sharp fielding and backing up

· Joe – the breakthrough wicket in the first HW over, taking the wind out of their openers’ sails

· Oscar – no extras conceded (that’s how Colts’ cricket games are won) and a wic

LDCC Won by 7 wickets!

Umpire: Tim G

Scorer: Rob W/Mark H

Barnes 88-4 20 overs

Edward 3-0-10-1, Dylan 3-0-18-1, Cameron 2-1-2-0,

 

LDCC 89-3 17.3overs

Sam 30* Ret, Benedict 17*, Alex 14, Connor 10

MotM: Sam H. 30*Retd. Timely return of one of our top stroke players!! Led a positive response with a flurry of great strokes

Champagne Moment: Benedict R: Full blooded midwicket drive for 4 announcing his first big innings for LDCC!

LDCC U-11s roared back from their cup defeat with sweet revenge against the Barnes B team in their latest league encounter! After a sluggish start with too many wides again providing the opposition with easy runs we found our mark. Dylan made the breakthrough with a good straight one and Rafe hit with a direct throw for a great run out. Dexter started weaving his magic and Roman started to get a good line going. Cameron, Edward and Alex strangled the scoring rate with 8 overs for 27 with no wides supported by positive fielding and backing up. Edward got a great wicket while Cameron turned in an excellent tight spell. What could have been a target of over a 100 was just 89.

 

Connor and Sam opened up and put together a fine opening partnership of 37 in no time! Connor unluckily edged to the keeper which brought Benedict to the crease. Benedict played himself in slowly and built confidence. Then he unleashed several expansive shots to make his top LDCC score. Great job! Sam continued on his merry way hitting five 4’s on his way to retirement. Alex replaced Sam and ensured the rate didn’t drop with a short high tempo innings. Rafe was unluckily run out before Benedict and Dylan saw us home with 2 ½ overs to spare.

 

Another great team performance!

 

Lessons learnt: Catching still needs tightening up. Running singles still a bit of a problem. Positive backing up and calling needed. Bowling accuracy came back to haunt us but we pulled it back.

 

Next match is home to Leatherhead in the League Sunday 3^rd July, team sheet to follow: We’ll need help setting up and volunteers for the colts café appreciated.

 

Tim G