Juniors reports
Ashley Catlin’s collection of match reports for the Junior Teams:
The first week of the season saw 2 of the 4 games played
Preston under 14 vrs Datchworth
A new look under 14 side took on Datchworth in the first game of the season. Winning the toss Guy elected to field, the opening bowlers of Ewan and Louie got Preston on top as Ewan 2/7 took 2 early wickets. With Ewan getting everyone a bowl the opposition posted a score of 94/6 in their 18 overs.
Preston reply relied on wides as we got to 10 without a run off the bat, we then lost both openers Billy and Louie for ducks. The first scoring shot was a 6 over mid wicket from Olly C. When he retired on 26 he was still our only scorer with the score on 44/2. A few singles here and then from Josh and Guy but then 3 quick wickets left us still needing 25. Debutants Olly M and Rhys then ran well and Rhys in particular hit the ball cleanly including a six to take us to victory Olly 8* and Rhys 13*.
A good start to the season
Preston under 10 vrs Ickleford
On a bright night at the rec, the boys entertained the impressive Ickleford team. Fielding first Debutant Daniel took the new ball and started well. The first pair for Ickleford posted 31/0 thanks to a some wayward bowling at times. The next pair continued the good work to take them to 255/0 as we tried hard to get a wicket. The third pair saw us bowl well as we restricted them to only 5 scoring shots including a maiden from Harry. 269/0 when the final pair entered the arena, we then got amongst the wickets as we took four wicket, 3 run outs and a wicket for Daniel as the oppo finished 266/4.
Our reply did not get off to the best of starts as we lost a wicket third ball, James and Toby where finding the tight bowling hard to get away as we were 191/3 after the first 4 overs. Xander and Daniel then started well with 10 off the first over, a very good drive for four from Xander. After the four overs the boys were on 207/4. Harry and Nathan then batted sensibly not to lose a wickets as they had a partnership of 21, the highlight being a lofted straight drive from Harry for 4.
When Elliott and Nid took guard they needed 39 to win, a early wicket made the chances fo victory hard, but some positive running and striking of the ball saw Elliott hit a couple of boundaries as we finished on 249/6.
Good first game.
The second week of the season saw 5 games played
FIVE FROM FIVE
Preston under 14 vrs HoddesDON
The under 14’s travelled to Hoddesdon on a damp bank holiday Monday, captain Guy again winning the toss and electing to field despite the steady rain. It proved an inspired decision as Hoddesdon were soon in trouble at 2 for 2 from four overs with Adam (2-1-1-2) and Louie (2-1-0-1) bowling miserly opening spells. Hoddesdon’s opening batsman Luke (26 retired) steadily accumulated runs at one end while a hard hitting 14 from Mason was ended by a fine diving catch by wicket keeper Rhys from Will’s bowling. The Preston fielding was outstanding in the damp conditions with other catches held by Ollie M. and two for Thomas whilst Shaan pulled off excellent diving stops at cover point. Ollie C. and Shaan both picked up wickets until Guy bowled the last batsman and the innings closed at 64 all out.
In reply, Hoddesdon opted to keep their better bowlers in reserve, much to the delight of Adam (26 retired) and Ollie C. (28 retired) who plundered 37 off of the first four overs. With the better bowlers coming on, Shaan (1) was caught behind but Guy (2 n.o.) and Rhys (1 n.o.)saw Preston home to a 9 wicket victory. Well done lads, an excellent all round team performance.
Preston under 10 vrs Knebworth
The boys travelled to Knebworth, with Robert and Declan making their hard ball debuts. Harry lost the toss and we were inserted. Xander aand Declan opened up and received a lot of balls that they could not hit as they scored 16 off the first two overs, all in extras. In the final over a couple of mistakes saw them lose two wickets to finish on 214/2
Next up Nid and Toby, they struggled to hit the low balls but did nto get out to take the score to 230/2 at the half way stage.
Harry and Daniel then came to the wicket and scored off 18 of the 24 balls faced to score 29 for one out, Harry 10 and Daniel 5 both hitting boundaries.
Elliot and debutant Robert then posted 28/1 with Elliot hitting some lovely shots to score 14 for one out. Robert played some nice shots to score 6 as the innings finished on 277/4.
In reply Knebworth innings never really got going as the boys bowled tightly to bowl 7 maidens and not concede a boundary. Elliott 3 3 0 1 Harry 3 2 1 1 Toby 3 1 4 2. Knebworths innings finished on 210/6 to give the boys a comprehensive victory.
Preston Under 10 Softball vrs WGC under 10
On a usual dull and cold night the 7 men of Preston travelled to WGC. Bowling first lots of good straight bowling particularly Freddie 2/13, Toby 1/8, even our keeper Nathan and of course Harry! Declan also hit the stumps but the bails didn’t come off the springer stumps restricted WGC to 281/5. The fielding of Sam and Harry got run outs and a good catch from Toby
Sensible batting and running between the wickets (boys made the most of extras rather than turning wides into dots like Welwyn did and as I suggested at the turnover – wow, they actually listened!!). Harry top scored with 29 and Dec hit a glorious boundary but their partnership 40/2 (30 net) was not quite as valuable as Toby 9 and Freddie’s 13 ( 36/0) as suspected. Nathan contributed some escelllent timing to score 11 and James 13 over 2 knocks to take to 309/4 to win by 28 runs.
The boys backed each other up in the field very well, vocally as well as preventing many overthrows.We will work on some aspects of awareness in the field and positions (save 1 or save 4&2?) next time!
CEAT Tyres Man of the Match: Freddie
Vitara Brezza Stylish Player of the Day: Harry
Glam Shot: Nathan’s straight drive
MATCH REPORT Weston vrs Preston under 11
After the previous week’s aborted effort the U11’s finally got their season underway with a convincing win at Weston on a bitterly cold evening. As the only Under 11 in the squad Jacob was appointed Captain and promptly decided to bowl first on winning the toss.
Jacob and James opened the bowling with good line and length and Jacob claimed the first wicket removing one of their openers cleaned bowled. The opening bowlers were replaced after a couple of overs each by Harry and Daniel who carried on the good work and each claimed a wicket clean bowled meaning the first 3 Weston batsmen had failed to trouble the scorers. The next two Weston batsmen were determined not to get out and managed to see out the rest of the innings despite the best efforts of Sam, Robert, Elliot and the returning opening bowlers. Overall I was very pleased with the effort in the field as despite the very cold and windy conditions the bowling was tidy and the fielding was excellent resulting in only 12 runs off the bat in Weston’s total of 62-3 off 20 overs. I was particularly pleased with the attitude of all the players in the way they supported and encouraged each other and maintained their focus in walking in and backing up throughout the innings.
Despite the slow pitch the team was confident of scoring the required runs. Nid and Declan opened up however Nid was bowled in an eventful first over which also saw Xander bowled the very next ball. Unperturbed by the situation Jacob hit the hattrick ball to the fence for the only 4 of the innings, however he departed soon after in the 4th over as he top edged a sweep that was well caught by the square leg fielder running to his left. Declan was joined by Elliott at the crease and the innings followed a very similar pattern to Weston’s with the batsmen struggling to pierce the field and the majority of runs coming in extras. With some good calling Declan and Elliott picked up the occasional single and with a number of wides the target was reduced to 13 off 9 overs. I gave the instruction to the batsmen to try and be a bit more aggressive to knock off the winning runs as it was very cold and the light was beginning to fade, however despite their best efforts the batsmen couldn’t get the ball away and rather fittingly the game finally came to the end on a no-ball meaning we ran out victors by 7 Wickets with 4.2 overs to spare.
There are a few things to improve on such as reducing the number of extras when bowling and finding the gaps to pick up more runs when batting but considering the weather and that it was our first game I was very happy with the performance and delighted with the win. A great start, especially as the majority of the team are playing up 1 or 2 years above their age group, no doubt we will have sterner tests to come.
Away v Hitchin next Friday (12th May) is the next U11 fixture
Preston under 13 vrs St Margretsbury
The talented under 13 side got their season under way on Friday at home to St Margretsbury. Losing the toss Olly was pleased to be inserted. Jack and Luke opened up and made a positive start. Some excellent shot making and positive mind-set saw us go off at 7 a over, Jack was particular impressive off the back foot with some great back foot drives as he hit 6 boundaries in retiring on 31. Olly joined Luke and both hit some boundaries as the score got to 73 in the 10th over, then a bit of a issue, Olly hit the ball to mid off and called for a suicidal single, that saw Luke (17) run out. This must have prayed on Olly mind as the next ball he faced saw him bowled for (6) New batsman Adam and debutant Gabriel then set about the bowling, with quick running and with Adam punishing anything on the leg stump ,as he raced to 30 including 2*6 and 3*4. Push (1) then joined Gabriel and looked solid but missed straight one.
With 4 overs to go Jude came to the wicket and found his timing to hit a quick-fire 11 not out and when Gabriel went for a big hit off the last ball of the penultimate over to be bowled for 29 we were 150/4. Alex came in for the last over and finished the innings of in style with a drive through the covers. Innings closed on 161/4
As the clouds darkened the lads needed to get through the overs quickly, Tom and Adam opened up but some wayward bowling and the unpredictable low bounce saw extras start to rack up. After 7 overs St M were on 42/1 with Adam 1/16 with the one wicket. The introduction of the slow bowing of Alex slowed the run rate as he took 2/13 from his four overs thanks to a good high catch from Luke. As it was getting darker only slow bowlers were used, Olly 2/10 found himself on a hatrick as he was helped by another catch from Luke, the hatrick ball was blocked. Fraser 0/7 and Jude 0/1 left the last over to Gabriel who took 2/7 hanks to a third catch from Luke. Well done to Ralph on keeping at Preston for the first time, you will get used to the low bounce
A good start to the season, next up Hoddesdon away on Thursday – there will be a couple of changes due to the size of the squad. Good luck to the 4 lads playing for the adults this weekend.
The third week of the season saw 4 games played
Preston under 10 vrs Pirton
The under 10 soft ball team took to the field on a fiercely cold Monday with five young players making their debut for Preston. Despite their inexperience they put in an accomplished display to run out easy winners against Pirton.
Having been put into bat, the opening pair of Daniel (11) and Aarav (2) started steadily, picking up singles and regular wides from the Pirton bowlers. Daniel accelerated in the fourth over with a towering six over mid wicket coupled with good running between the wickets. The pair closed the fourth over on 225-0.
Yash (11)and Rahul (2) kept up the tempo with Yash hitting two fours, although in between, a couple of run outs were conceded. Rishabh (1) and Ishaan (5) batted sensibly and protected their wicket while picking up wides which allowed Freddie (17) and Nathan (1) to push the score along to 289-3 from the 16 overs.
Pirton started well in reply with captain Harry hitting a couple of big fours until he was bowled by Daniel. Pirton struggled to keep up with the run rate and when Rahul took two wickets in one over and Freddie bowled a wicket maiden the game was Preston’s as Pirton closed on 261-4.
Learning points: running and calling – avoid those run outs!
Impressed by: everybody’s spirit and smiles on faces despite the cold!
Champagne moment: the huge six from Daniel.
Thanks: to the lads and parents who helped to clear up afterwards. That’s a great help.
Preston under 13 vrs Hoddesdon
A earlier departure virtually straight from school saw us head off to Essex and the village of Nazing to play Hoddesdon. Turning up we were welcomed to a lovely ground , nice people and a excellent wicket. Winning the toss Olly had no hesitation to bat. The batting order was similar to last the previous game, Luke and Jack opened up and despite a early maiden, Jack carried on from last week in smashing 16 off one over with some powerful leg side shots. With the score on 30 Toby got a wicket with his first ball, he would have had Olly out first ball if he appealed, but failed to do so, next ball 6 over square leg from Olly. The score then started to increase rapidly as Jack retired on 30 with six boundaries, Olly C was particular harsh on anything legside as he smashed another two sixes including one to take him to 35* Gabriel and Adam looked like to carry the onslaught on as we were 104 off 13, but first Gabriel 7 and Adam 17 were bowled. Jude and Joe then batted sensibly to put on 23 as Joe hit 3 boundaries in finishing 16* and Jude went in the last over for 7. The innings closed with a delightful straight drive by debutant Harry Bartram. 150/4
The boys knew Hoddeson would have to go at it from ball one, and they were up with the run rate after four overs as a number of extras saw them on 30 inside 5 overs. The introduction of Ben saw the rate slow as he took a wicket courtesy of a catch from Adam Tom finished with 4 overs for 13 runs. At the half way stage Hoddesdon were 46/1 . Joe came on and took a wicket first ball, a catch from Olly. Jude came down the hill and got a wicket with a nice juicy full toss that went straight to Jack. As the run rate crept up Gabriel and Luke finished the game off with Luke claiming a wicket as Hoddesdon finished on 88/4.
A very enjoyable game, still some work to do in the field, all players need to concentrate and stay in the positions they are allocated. Hertford next Friday
Preston U11 vs Hitchin Under 11
Preston U11’s took on Hitchin U11’s tonight at Preston looking to add to the 8 wins out of 8 games for the Preston colts this season.
Hitchin won the toss and confidently decided to bat first. The first ball of the match was a sign of things to come as Jacob cleaned bowled their opener. A smart run out by Toby removed their danger man for 2 runs and two wickets for Arham, both clean bowled, reduced the visitors to 15-4. Robert replaced Jacob and was straight away on the spot picking up a wicket in his first over well caught by Toby. Toby and Sam bowled straight and kept the Hitchin batsmen in check despite them finally beginning to build a partnership and get the scoreboard moving. Harry then took 2 wickets in 2 balls and Asad claimed a very good caught and bowled before Arham and Jacob returned to pick up a wicket each to bowl out Hitchin for 78 from 18.5 overs.
An excellent bowling and fielding display by all eleven players, a special mention to Xander who was excellent behind the stumps despite hurting his thumb early in the innings.
Needing 79 to win Nid and Harry opened the batting and with a mixture of determination and skill survived the opening bowlers with relative ease. Some excellent running between the wickets and 3 lovely boundaries from Nid took the score past 50 as they looked to accelerate. Nid finally departed lbw for a fine 16. James joined Harry at the crease and some hard running took the target down to 11 from 4 overs. James was bowled for 2 and Harry for 9 as they looked for the big shots. This meant Jacob and Arham arrived at the crease. Jacob picked up a single and Arham hit 2 consecutive boundaries from the only two balls he faced leaving just 2 to win. Jacob promptly hit the winning boundary to complete an excellent all round team performance.
The boys did really well tonight, it was a comprehensive win against a good team so they should rightly be very proud of themselves. Thanks to those that helped tonight especially with the refreshments for the kids.
Next week will be an even tougher test but i am already looking forward to seeing the boys continuing to raise their game to rise to the challenge.
The 5th week of the season saw 4 games played
Preston Under 14s vrs Datchworth
No report yet
Preston under 10 vrs WGC
On a glorious night at Preston, the under 10 were asked to bat first. Nid and Xander opened up an started slowly relying on extras and with a couple of wickets we were 197 /2 after 2 overs. Nid 12 then got into his stride to hit a couple of boundaries as we were 219/2 after 4. Next up Elliott (6) and Toby (9) who scored 10 off the first over with Toby hitting a lovely 4. Lots of running and extras saw 32 scored off the bat but a couple of dismissals saw us on 241/4 at the half way stage
Harry and Nathan then came to the wicket and with extras coming in the first over then Harry playing some textbook shots, a couple of boundaries, to score 13 they pushed the score on to 266/4. The last pair of Daniel and James did not have the best of starts as both went to the first balls they faced. They then got stuck in to get us to 263/7 at the close of the innings.
We had a great start in reply as Elliot got a wicket with the first ball, James then took a wicket to leave WGC on 206/2 after 4. The next pair looked dangerous as they hot a couple of fours but a wicket for Harry and another for Elliott meant WGC were 223/4 after 8. The next four overs saw us win the game, as Daniel and James with two wickets put us into a winning position.
The final four overs were played out with not to much excitement as WGC finished on 226/7
Wicket takers Elliot2/10 James 3/3 Harry 1 /13 Daniel ¼.
Special mention to Xander – excellent straight bowling
MATCH REPORT (22ND MAY 2017 H V NORTH MYMMS U11’S)
A disappointing batting performance saw the boys lose their unbeaten record as they lost by 52 runs to a decent North Mymms side.
Winning the toss Jacob decided to bowl and in tandem with Arham they bowled a tight opening spell with no luck. They were replace by James and Awad who each claimed a wicket but the North Mymms opener now had his eye in and hit some impressive boundaries before finally retiring on 33 which proved to be the real difference between the sides. Robert picked up a couple of wickets with his off spin, one of which was well caught by Jacob and Elliott pounced for an excellent run out to stem the tide but Harry and the returning Jacob and Arham were well played by North Mymms middle order and North Mymms posted a challenging 100-5 from their 20 overs.
Our inning got off to a disastrous start as Elliott ran himself out without facing a ball and Nidhaan was bowled without scoring. Arham crashed a couple of boundaries before being well caught for 13 which started a bit of a collapse as Toby and Jacob followed soon after in the same fashion and in-between Xander was run out after several calls of yes and no. Harry and James stuck around for a bit picking up mainly extras with some good running before James was run out going for a quick single and Harry was caught for 2. Awad smashed his first ball for 4 but was bowled the next ball trying to do the same and was quickly followed by Robert leaving Nathan stranded as the not out batsman as we finished all out for 48 from 13.5 overs.
I think it says a lot about how far the boys have come, especially the fantastic win against Hitchin, that we were disappointed with the performance on the night but it should be noted that the majority of the team are playing against boys at least a year older. We didn’t quite have the same focus either in the field or with the bat as we did in the previous game and the boys decision making was punished by some excellent bowling and fielding from the opposition who held all their catches and took the run-out opportunities given to them.
Prior to our innings I told the boys to be positive with their running and attacking shots as we attempted to chase a big total which in hindsight proved to be the wrong message as we played too recklessly. Our success in the previous matches was to play the bowling on its merits and be patient in building innings and taking the opportunity to target the weaker bowlers later in the innings. Hopefully the lessons learned by the players and myself as coach can be taken into the next few matches and we can bounce back stronger.
Thanks again to all the parents who helped on the night.
The remaining scheduled fixtures are listed below:
8/6/2017 – A v North Mymms (Unfortunately I am unavailable as away golfing in Portugal that week but Nigel or Ashley will be in contact)
23/6/2017 – A v Hitchin
26/6/2017 – H v Weston
30/6/2017 – A v Welwyn
TBA – H v Welwyn
Under 10 softball vrs Hitchin
Under 10 softies fell 14 runs short of a successful 286 run chase at Hitchin.. Scorecard and full match report to follow.
Cracking debut for Harry, a maiden over & 2 wickets including a sharp caught and bowled and so nearly the winning partnership with Declan.
Glam shot of the day – Sam’s pull shot all along the ground and into the bushes
Perfect catch of the match – Harry
Man of the Match – Freddie for another tight bowling display and top run scorer
Special mention – Yash for some great power hitting!
Great team bowling effort – Everyone bowled 2 overs including at least one very good over!!
Coach’s Comments/Areas to work on..
Running between the wickets: calling, backing up..
All comes with experience but there were a couple of suicidial calls both of which should have resulted in -5 (only one did). Also when the required run rate climbs to above 6 we need to be more urgent: calling earlier – almost tip and run. Don’t ask Cal about that!!!
We bowled much fewer wides than they did. but cutting off easy boundaries was the critical difference: when captain says “field on the boundary” it means exactly that, not half way, or 5 steps deeper than the fielding circle !
Well done to all, a good game of cricket and still in the hunt for the knockouts if we can put a couple of wins together.
Preston Under 13 vrs Bishops Stortford
On a glorious morning in Bishops Stortford, the boys were met by a lovely ground and a large crowd. With Olly Skinner and Tom Harvey making their first start of the season and Jude returning to keeping duties, Winning his third consecutive toss Olly elected to bowl to enable us to allow Jack to field before departing to golf. Tom and Adam opened the bowling and both bowled well without any fortune, but kept the runs to a respectable 4 a over. Olly had elected to have a defensive field of 4 on the boundary from the word go, which was working out. Tom bowled straight through to have 0/14 from his allocation. Harry replaced Adam and a good first over was followed by a slightly wayward second over but still good pace and bounce. Olly then went for the slow bowling option of himself and Alex and the run rate slowed as the opener retired for 30. Next ball saw the first wicket fall on 58 and then the pressure was applied as Alex 1/19 Olly 1/7 off four put Stortford behind the clock, Push was introduced with a new shorten run up, he is now a leg spinner. His two overs produced three wickets including a catch from Olly C. The innings closed on 85/5.
The boys were in a good place at the interval and a solid start was required to make sure we had wickets in tack. At this point the report is thanks, to Olly and Alex, as the coach left. Jack and Luke started watchfully and had 7 off three overs before Luke was caught for 4. Olly and Jack then batted sensibly playing themselves in and seeing off the opening bowlers. They put on a stand of 60, with Olly hitting some excellent cover drive plus a six, Jack hit 4 boundaries and was unfortunately out just before the retirement mark for 26. Olly then retired on 32. It was then left to Adam 9* Tom and Pushan 6* to see us over the line, the final runs being a boundary from Push to give us 3 consecutive victories.
Thanks to all the supporters, Iain for umpiring the second half and Tony for scoring.
Have a good week
Ash