Devon Cricket Board - DCBYA U14s 2015 Festival Report

Day I Derbyshire Pitch 3

It was a good first evening and the atmosphere was excellent. Most rooms were quiet by 11.30PM and everyone was up bright and early some very early!

Wendy said it was going to rain and it did just before the match was meant to start but it came to nothing and we started on time. The pitch was new, green and with the humidity we decided to have a bowl and we did. Kers and Gregors opened, both beat the bat but it quickly became apparent that anything that beat the infield was 4 runs. Derbyshire’s openers capitalised on anything slightly off line or length put their hands through the ball and it simply flew to the boundary and before we knew it we were on the defensive trying to take the pace off the ball and boundary riders. There was a chance of a run out, and it was not until Priestley was in his 80s that we got our first real chance, which we dropped and he then went onto make 146. Drinks came at a rain break and we made some suggestions and Jonty was asked about bowling his chinamen and he got the break through having Webber LBW for 80. Derbyshire 201-1. We then had a 103 partnership as Vaughan carried on the attack when Jonty had Priestley stumped 309-2! 400 was a possibility!! Gregors bowled Vaughan 361-3 and Jonty took his 3^rd wicket. 365-4. Derbyshire finished on 383-4 the highest score against an u14s side in my 16 years!! Why didn’t Derbyshire declare and give themselves more overs?

Simplify things. Look how quick the outfield is and how quickly the runs came. Lets get to 175, 3 batting points then 200 and 225 maximum batting points and if we can get to 256 and a losing draw that is brilliant. Deggy is not well so who will open? Locky puts his hand up, good lad. Saps and Locky open. Saps comes down the wicket 2^nd over to Derbyshire’s spinner and is stumped! 7-1 just what we needed. James Doble given a chance at 3 and Locky take it onto 23 when Locky is bowled. Tayls and James bat reasonably untroubled when on 53 James is bowled going back when he perhaps should have been forward. Gregors and Talys bat well when Talys for some reason gives cover point an easy catch 90-4. Byron and Jonty come and go, Bryon playng his first ball through the covers for 4 then tamely hitting a catch and Jonty not getting forward again 95-6. George and Gregors recover the situation when Gregors calls George for a single and George doesn’t ground his bat and is run out! 120-7. Deggy feeling better quickly gets his pads on, sorry Sam and the score is on 143 when he gives a simple catch to gulley. Those batting points are looking a long way off now but we do bat so deep and Kersley plays a super innings and with Gregors the score ticks along. Gregors makes his maiden County 50 before Kers (35) is very well caught in the slips 214-8. Maximum batting points 225 our next target and Elliott with Gregors get us there and then is there a chance of 256 - it’s a long way still. That Jason had offered ice creams if we get there was the incentive we needed and together Gregors (63no) and Elliott (24no) get us to 260. Absolutely brilliant and you would have thought we had won the match. 10 points and very well deserved. Football cool down refereed by Ken who has adopted us once more. Would you have done this last year? Brilliant lads be very proud of what you have achieved today as a TEAM. It’s still going to be a long week but enjoy today and those ice creams.

Incidentally Derbyshire would have bowled first too.

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Day 2 Wales Pitch 2

As I was away today this is James Dobels' and other player’s match report (edited version!). Thank you to Jason and Julian for running the Team. The Graduation went well.

A sunny day, the pitch was dry but green and the outfield hard and dry but patchy in places. We won the toss and batted -.Deggy and Saps put on 50 in 9 overs a great start but it included some risky runs! The score board continued to tick over and the 100 partnership came up in the 19^th over, our first 100 partnership of the season! Things changed in the 20^th over as Deggy (39) chips out and two balls latter Tayls is LBW- yes LBW Tayls! Sam Carpenter joins Saps and hits a 4 and then miss cues into the deep and picks out the only fielder! 110-3. Locky steadies the ship but the pressure gets to Saps (30) who holes out once more. 140-4. The hero of the day before James O-G is quickly out and Byron is then LBW for a duck as the collapse continues, 142-6. Locky is all the time batting well and is now aided by Kers but he is out in the 36^th over for 43 and Kers follows with the score still on 165. George gets off the mark but lacks rhythm and he gets out 170-9 and Elliot and Woody getting a knock at last take the score to 177 when Woody chips to cover, leaving Elliott not out once more. We really need to read our batting goals and address/ and I hate the word execute them lads! Awareness and application lads!

With only 177 on the board early wickets were essential and it was decided to open with Kers and Deggy. Kers steams in with real pace and not unusually gets a wicket in the first over as he beats the bat. Wales 2-1 and the 2 is a wide! Deggy continues to apply the pressure but the odd four is scored and it becomes apparent that extras are going to play a part in this match! After 8 overs Wales have 30 on the board. Deggy takes the second wicket in the 10^th over Wales 39-2 and two over later it becomes 44-3, Degg LBW. Woody has replaced Kers and is bowling with control but Tomos Evans and Will Smale then put on 49, Jonty tried his chinamen but without success, and give Wales that vital partnership they need to settle them and get them back on track when Charps has Smale LBW with his first delivery. 93-4 in the 25^th over. Devon have some hope and the fielding continues to be sharp but 4 balls continue as do the extras. Elliott is unlucky to have a chance dropped by Tayls trying to restrict the score by standing up to him and the return of Kers sees Lee bowled but the damage has been done and Wales cruise home to win by 5 wickets with plenty of overs to spare..

Whilst we bowled quite well, the wides are killing us lads. We just can’t keep bowling them and have to do something about it lads! It’s not the first time this has been said! The fielding was good, brave at times but there was still the odd mishap and dropped catch again which we just can’t afford as it relieves the pressure the dot balls have created.

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Day 3 Yorkshire Pitch 1

It was not the best of warm ups, there was tiredness and lethargy and it was only Day 3. Quite words; what do you want to do – bowl, okay we can then control things particularly if we bowl and field well. We win the toss. The umpires arrive and play is just about to begin when Tony the Yorkshire coach says has anyone noticed the pitch markings? The previous U13s pitch had been remarked!! The grounds man is called and a a different pitch is quickly marked out- will it play the same…

Devon’s openers Kers and Gregors are outstanding, good pace, swing, lines and lengths and in Gregors’ first over, not Kers for a change those of you who read these reports, he induces a miss hit and Bryon snaffles the chance at mid on. 9-1. There’s a small partnership when Gregors gets Wood to nick off and Carps takes a good slip catch. 34-2 in the 12^th. A couple of sharp chances occur which perhaps we should have taken, will they be costly and we have another small partnership. The slight slips aside we are fielding to a very good standard and bowling well and then Woody has Wharton caught behind 69-3 which must have made him feel better. Another small partnership before George gets a wicket Byron taking the catch and its 113-5 off 28. We are happy with that. Yet another partnership, lads have you noticed the reoccurring theme, 57 this time before Sam Carpenter takes the first of his two wickets in the first over after lunch. At lunch we thought that they would come hard at us as there was only 10 overs left, actually they were told to take what runs they could and then explode for the last 5 overs, but a combination of them batting poorly and us bowling and fielding well, pressure, meant wickets tumbled and if it hadn’t been for the extras Yorkshire might not have reached maximum batting points. Jonty got two of them bowling his chinamen again, one a stumping from Dobs who had kept very well again for Sam who injured his thumb but subsequently fielded exceptionally. There was also a run out, Jonty, and Gregors got his 3^rd wicket caught behind by Dobs. Yorkshire 227 all out. There management were very complimentary about our performance both with ball ( they must have missed those wides!) and in the field and it was a first time we had kept the effort up for the whole 50 overs. You have done it once and you can now do it again!

5 an over, if we bat sensibly, have say two good partnerships, some luck and keep wickets in hand - we can get these runs..

That first bit of bad luck happened when Deggy tore a muscle in his gluteus maximus in the 4^th over and had to be carried off! Tayls joined Saps and the score ticks along to 54 in the 11th over when Tayls got a leading edge to a full toss and was caught at mid on…. Dobs joined Saps and Yorkshire brought the first of their spinners on. It wasn’t obvious straight away but the scoring rate, 4.9 an over, started to slip and whilst they batted well they didn’t really look to rotate the strike/ take enough singles and before we knew it the overs were slipping away and the run rate was increasing. The next 19 overs which included one maiden and ten when only one run was scored went by until Saps got out trying to increase the run rate. 108-2(3 including the injured Deggy) off 30. Jonty promoted to try and up the run rate was caught at slip and Byron promoted too was then caught at deep square leg. 134-4 (5 including the injured Degg) off 35 overs. Two runs later Dobs who has made his highest County score 46 was caught. Locky and Carps then try to recover the situation and we are still trying to win but on 169 in the 42^nd over Locky is bowled, George runs himself out and Gregors is bowled. Game over we can’t win now. Carps then next over for some reason, pressure I guess, goes for a suicidal run and Kers is the sacrifice, Deggy is strapping them on and a runner is being organised, and he then hobbles to the wicket for Carps to play across the line and get bowled. Devon all out 170……. in the 43^rd over.

Hindsight is wonderful and I appreciate Yorkshire’s spinners bowled well but the pressure those 19 middle overs created did have an effect on the remaining batsmen. Jason and I will also put our hands up too with everything going on we perhaps took our eye off things until it was too late and we should have sent out clearer instructions to play for the draw earlier to maximise our points when we felt could not win.

Yes we lost but we must take the positives from the match and there were lots of them. The quality of your cricket whilst bowling and in the field was very good and showed what you can do and how far you have come since last year. The fight, the team spirit and pride in your performance, all things we have worked hard to improve were there in abundance and you should be very proud. You just need to have that bit of luck and get that difficult win under your belts to make you realise that you do it. You can do it, it will happen so hang in there and keep fighting and giving 200%. Believe.

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Day 4 Shropshire Pitch 1

Selection with Deggy injured was an easy once more but the early morning knock on the door, Carps with another migraine, was not expected. It was dry but rather chilly for July!

We lost the toss and Shropshire elected to bat which we were not disappointed about but we were playing on the same pitch as yesterday and there was the possibility it might keep low as the day went on. Kers and Gregors opened and carried on where they left off the day before and before and day before that and bowled excellently. In the 6^th over Gregors struck having Wassall caught behind by James Doble who was having another game keeping. Kers got his wicket in the 9^th over, later than normal, Clarke caught by Bryon. 36-2. Sam Woodcock's introduction saw the next wicket when he had Humes caught by Walliker, 58-3 and his spin twin partner Jonty Walliker then had Lewin smartly caught by Gregors. Jonty how did you drop that caught and bowled chance? Sage and Steel then built a partnership before Woody bowled Sage behind his legs for 58. Whilst once more the fielding was of a good standard, there was the odd miss field and unusually overthrow and along with extras the score ticked along. Sam Carpenter who was feeling a little better then came onto bowl and took two wickets, first a stumping by Dobs and then another catch for Gregors. Shropshire 174-8. In his follow through Kers ran out Stanley and Woody ran out Mobbs as Shropshire tried to up the scoring rate and reach maximum batting points but Devon’s determination stopped them achieving this.

The score was yet again one Devon ought to be able to get if they batted sensibly and learnt lessons from their defeat against Yorkshire, scoring more runs per over in the middle overs. In Deggy's absence, we had learnt by know it was a trapped nerve not a muscle tear and Deggy would be okay for next week, thanks you Wales, Saps and Dobs opened. The score fair raced along, thanks mainly to extras and after 10 over Devon were on 40. How many were off the bat? 15 runs! The introduction of the slower bowling however saw the rate begin to slow and at drink 16 overs Devon had 60 on the board without loss. The suggestion was made to try and reduce the overs with only 1 run scored off them and the question asked again how are we going to achieve this? - use our feet and manipulate the ball into gaps. However Dobs came down the track missed the ball and was stumped – a partnership of 66 for the 1^st wicket but in 18 overs! Two overs latter Tayls turned his wrist too early and miss cued to point and 4 overs latter Saps was out LBW. 79-4 in the 25^th half way. We were now behind the rate and just lost 3 quick wickets; why pressure caused by the scoring rate? That became 81-5 when Bryon who started to show glimpses of his early season form, including a lovely on drive was out LBW. Kers was out next without any more runs being added giving mid off catching practice. Those batting goals really do need reading lads!! Jonty and Elliott then formed an excellent partnership, Jonty not the batsman of the day before, with time and elegance middling it from the first ball and there was a time when there was just a chance that they might see Devon home. In the 45^th over however Elliott was LBW and two balls latter George was LBW and any prospects, they were small and did we really have a chance, of Devon winning had gone. With Carps definitely not well enough to bat, he wanted too, Woody strode to the middle and 4^th ball was bowled! Devon all out 171.

Without doubt another disappointing result and there were too many similarities to the day before which is once more disappointing as we had talked about what was necessary and had hoped that players would try and put it into practice. Pleasing though was the bowiling and fielding which has seen significant improvement over the season and is now being maintained for the full number of overs. The one annoying thing the continuing number of wides.

The prospects of play tomorrow are very slim and indeed as I type, 23.30 it is already raining in Taunton and we may be home early. After the match, Carps’ migraine got far worse and fortunately Paul was not far away and came and took him home.

Thank you Deggy for helping run the side and Wendy for scoring and Derek when you have been to to encourage and watch too. Thank you also to Julian for helping out on Tuesday. A big thank you to the parents and relatives who came to support us, I am just sorry we did not have a little more to excite you. Finally thank you for the last time to Malcolm, the grounds men and umpires and all at Kings for organising and running the Kings Festival as like the lads this will be my last one. It is quite sad and I now know how they feel each year but it is time for change.

Time for bed!

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