On a lovely sunny summers night we entertained New Longton A team at the Lane. Unfortunately our original 10 was soon down to 8 due to 2 of our players failing late fitness tests. School trips and other absences meant that we were unable to field any late replacements. It was opportunity for a new team member, Louis to make his debut for the Lane. He’d only been down to one practice but you can see Louis will be a useful acquisition to any team with his left arm bowling action. Woody, our captain for this match, loss the toss and their skipper invited us to bat. The fact that we only had 8 meant that 2 of our team were able to bat twice.
And then who can forget.... Will T’s great hook shot, On a smaller ground it would have been 6. Will’s batting is really developing and he has a natural eye for hitting the ball. If his progress continues he’s going to become a very good batsman. Will maintains his fitness on the field and keeps the crowd entertained by performing the odd cartwheel. Lewis S batted the best he’s batted so far, hitting more balls than ever before and the highlight of his knock was a lovely late cut for 2 (Ian Bell who plays for England would have been proud to have played this shot so well). Lewis also fielded really well “Mr Reliable” Benedict won his game of “rock, paper and scissors” against Isaac and as a consequence decided to face the first ball of their batting partnership. A lovely pull shot for four was the highlight of his innings. Benedict made an outstanding effort to take a catch and just as he had it in his hands it bounced out. Better luck next time. Woody’s running between the wickets was back to his best, scampering 3 quick singles. Woody was as steady as ever behind the stumps and led the team from the front setting a good example to his players.
Our innings was completed and we scored a reasonable 220. If we bowled well we could do this.
And then who can forget....
Sam S’s wicket in his first over. Sam always seems to nick an early wicket, this is because of his accuracy in bowling at the stumps. Sam was probably our best fielder in today’s match, stopping 2-3 certain fours.
Inspired by his brother, Isaac also got a wicket and in fact bowled a wicket maiden (6 balls, 1 wicket and no runs). Amazingly Isaac only went for 5 runs in his 3 overs and 4 of these runs were scored in one shot. Great spell of bowling Isaac.
Louis W settled in well when he came to bowl and it was very encouraging that he bowled some really good balls. With more practice Louis is going to become a very useful all rounder (Louis also managed to get off the mark for the Lane in his first innings). Well done Louis. Jake bowled a hostile spell when bowling the first over of their innings, and his line and length improved as his 3 over spell progressed. Jake was his usual “live wire” self in the field New Longton capitalised on us having only 8 men in the field and we were unable to plug the inevitable gaps. Encouraging though the lads didn’t get down despite the fact they knew we were bowling too many extras and not taking enough wickets to win the game. A total of 290 was a great score and sometimes you have to take you hats off to the opposition and accept they played better than us on the night. On another night the result might have been reversed. Things we did really well We stuck at the task even though we were down to 8 men. Our fielding continues to improve with all the team walking in every ball. We spotted obvious gaps in the field and moved a player there to try and cut down the runs. We clapped their batters after their innings and shook hands with the opposition at the end of the game. Our batters are making significant improvement in their techniques and it won’t be long before they are scoring more and more runs. We mustn’t be afraid of trying to hit the ball as hard as we can particularly if the ball is not going to hit the wicket. Players are starting to remember the names of the different fielding positions. Things we could improve on We still bowl too many extras (i.e. wides and no balls). Not only do they get at least one run for every extra we bowl, but they also get another ball to try and get runs. We must try and keep our bowling arm as vertical as possible when bowling (so it brushes your ear). This will enable you to bowl the ball nearer the stumps. Watch Daniel who is a really good example who, as a result of practice, has significantly improved his bowling accuracy. We will be focussing on bowling at the stumps at future practices Well that’s the end of the League season and what a great experience it’s been. We must remember we are a young developing team and as everyone who has seen us since our first match will know how we have all made really good progress. BUT THE SEASON ISN’T OVER YET………. Moreorless every team we have played is wanting to play a friendly against us and we will probably play a friendly against Hoghton. Practices will continue on Friday nights, hopefully until the middle of August when I go on holiday. Keep looking at the website for up and coming events and news.