Devon Cricket Board - DCBYA U14s 2013 Hampshire Match Report

It was a glorious morning and on arrival at Sandford CC the sun was glinting off the dew. It was an idyllic sight. The pitch was beautifully prepared and ground marked out. There were signs water had crept under the covers and with the overhead conditions it looked as if it was an insert day. Hampshire felt the same.
The warm up went well, perhaps a little too much jollity but good to see none the less. We talked about angles given the boundaries and how we would approach the match. Joe won the toss, now getting a habit, famous last words, and Hampshire were asked to bat. We now had to use the pitch and conditions.
Big Joe, having worked hard at his club, opened and bowled his best three overs since Gwent, pace and he used the extra bounce at Sandfrod well. He had no luck though; Joe B after his injury lay off started well too but looked not surprisingly a little apprehensive. As neither of the openers had taken a wicket after 6 overs, the score 24, the spinners came on early. Was Pethy’s field right as 3 singles were taken all in the same place? Changes were then made quickly again to bring on Billy and Alex and Alex almost immediately seemed to be hobbling; Billy bowled his normal first over maiden! The fielding was generally really good but we were not really causing the Hampshire openers any real problems and they started to put the bad ball away. At drinks after 15 overs the score 48-0, 3 an over, which let’s face it we were quite happy with - a couple of wickets would have been nice though. Whether we relaxed or the Hampshire lads were told to get on with it, a bit of each I perhaps or was it we just took a wicket, Mead caught by Pethy at square leg off Alex and the outstanding Gnodde came in and literally got on with it. He was particularly brutal on any ball which was not quite in the right place. He was excellent on hitting the ball into spaces not at fielders and found wide mid on a lot, whereas his partner Organ who went onto an excellent hundred played straighter. So the second 15 overs went Hampshire’s way, 152-1 off 30 overs, no matter what we tried mainly due to excellent batting and perhaps us not quite getting the ball in the right areas to the two batsmen; getting the fields quite right with the short boundaries was also a challenge a bit like pitch 3 at the Festival.

At drinks Nick made various suggestions and on came Wardy. 4, 4, 1, 1 6 and then wicket as Gnodde slammed the ball to deep square leg where Billy took a very good catch. 168-2. Hampshire through Organ however and their other batsmen sent in with licence to hit out quickly took the score on. However together with some good bowling, Noah impressing, plus excellent fielding particularly catching, Pethy a skier, Bodders a running catch over his shoulder, Jim and Harvey running in from the deep, all taking great catches, we managed to keep Hampshire down to 285-9 when they should have got 325! Yes this was a big challenging score but the track was very good and Sandford is a great place to chase with its boundaries. However what effect would the score have on the players?

After a fantastic tea, thank you the Hagan-Burt family for organising it and all the parents for their contributions and helping, it was back to business trying to get the score. Whilst we knew we had to have wickets in hand we still had to be very positive to have any chance of getting the runs and at least two players had to get 70+ and there had to be a hundred partnership. We started cautiously then Harvey decided to tee off in the 4^th over hitting 3 fours. Joe then unfortunately gave slips a chance which they took. 17-1. Billy and Harvey then took the score onto 71 in the 15^th over, the over before drinks and well ahead of Hampshire’s score, when Harvey picked out a fielder and was caught for an excellent 48. There was a definite sense of disappointment as he was batting so well, but given our depth of batting, if everyone chipped in, 4 players yet to come who have made 50+ this year and one a hundred, we could still get close. As has often happened this year however, the scoring slowed down, Hampshire’s spinners bowled well and the odd ball started keeping low and we then lost Billy just when he was starting to get going. 77-3 in the 20^th; at this stage still ahead of Hampshire.

Finlay is fine form and Noah then took the score onto 148 in the 34^th over when Fin (30) got out caught. We then lost Phillips, Shepherd and Ward in quick succession and even though Noah reaches a well deserved fifty and Alex batted excellently for a cameo 17 we finish well short on 182-7 from our 45 overs.
So yes 285, even at Sandford, was a real challenge, psychologically more than anything. If we had kept them to 225-240, which perhaps we should have and not lost wickets at vital times, we could have chased the runs down; Nick and I genuinely believe that lads. You must not forget how far you have come, how much you have improved individually and as a team. As we have always said there will be knocks on our journey together and this is another one but let’s all learn from the lessons learned. Let’s go to Gloucestershire for our final match together and play to our potential. You can do it!
Thank you so much to Bill Matten, Chris, Colin and Nigel and all at Sandford CC for all you did to get the match played as we appreciate it was difficult few days before due to the rain. It was a fantastic day and from the comments all the Hampshire players and parents as well as Devon contingent really enjoyed playing at Sandford. Thank you. Thank you also to Nick and David our umpires and Wendy for scoring. Finally thank you all the parents for the marvellous spread and to all for your support.

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