Reports from the Juniors 20/05/15

Ashley Catlin catches up with the latest reports from the Preston Junior sides:

Preston Under 9 vrs Hitchin 2

The young and inexperienced Preston team had their first home game at the field of dreams. Fielding first the boys started a bit slowly as the Hitchin batsman ran well and we were a bit lethargic in the field, after 4 overs the oppo were 228. The next four overs saw us not bowl many wides and at the half way stage Hitchin were 250/0.
The third pair saw us take our first wicket of the season when Harry found the edge and Elliott caught it, the final pair came to the wicket looking to get to 300, but a bit of strike bowling by Elliott and then a run out by Elliott saw us take 2 more wickets as the oppo finished on 287/3.
Our reply started with Nid and Oscar, it was a sedate start as they took some singles and got some extras, but Oscar was unfortunately bowled of his legs, this left us onn 206 after 4 overs. Next up Xander and Declan saw Xander hit some good shots but a lack of talking saw us not take the runs, a At the half way stage we were 222/1. The third pair Elliott and Nathan and they ran well and with Elliott hitting the only noundary took the score to 244/2/ The last pair of James and Harry relied on extras, although they played some good shots that did result in many runs, the final score was 260/2
This week there was 55 extras, lets reduce it again next week.

Preston under 11 vrs Letchworth Under 11 eight a side

Preston made the short journey to Fairfield park to play in front of a decent crowd. Losing the toss Preston were inserted and started well with Jude and Jack (15) scoring 10 off the first ove, r a couple of quieter overs saw the score move to 17 before a couple of wickets in the last over saw the score remain on 17. The next pair of Adam and Tom, with his new bat, accelerate the run rate with Tom especially finding the gaps to hit five boundaries in scoring 21 and Adam playing second fiddle getting 12.
As the third pair came to the crease the score was on 249. Joe and Luke batted sensibly to take the singles and the wides to post 19. The last pair of Frazer and Olly looked to take the score past 300. They manage to do this despite losing one wicket with Olly hitting 29.
Letchworth reply started well but a wicket by Adam restricted the pair to 7. The next pair rode their luck and some edges and good shots saw them score 22. The game turned on thenext 4 overs where wickets from Tom Olly and Frazer saw them stay on the same score. The final pair batted well to take Letchworth to 253/4/