Home | Reports 14th May 2006

Inter District Under 14 Reports 7th May 2006

South v East - East won by 4 wickets

A beautiful morning at Brixham, had given way to more cloudy conditions by the time the match started at 1pm.  South, having won the toss, had elected to bat.The first few overs were tight, with the ball swinging and seaming around.  A short boundary behind the wicket at either end, meant that any wayward bowling could end up as 4 byes or wides.  South lost an early wicket, with Roger Doxat-Pratt being bowled by Henry Parkin’s first ball, at the start of the fourth over.  This brought Matt Hickey to join Luke Tuckett, and they progressed steadily to move the score to 26-1 at the end of the 10th over.  Matt Hickey, who had been looking in no real trouble, was suddenly bowled by Toby Ingram, and in the next over Scott Eaves was bowled by Paris Pinney. Now South were 44-3 in the 14th over and needing to rebuild, but with Matt Thompson joining Luke, they had the personnel to do this.  Steady accumulation of runs was the watchword for the next period of play.  Drinks were taken at the end of 20 overs, with South 63-3 and East introducing their spinners, Mike Collinge and JJ Debenham into the attack.  The aim of the South batsmen was to rotate the strike and hit the bad balls when they came along.  Tuckett used his feet well to Collinge and forced Miles Lenygon, East’s Captain, to push a man back to the long on boundary.  This allowed Tuckett to take singles as he pleased, but cut off the expensive boundaries.  After an excellent innings, Tuckett used his feet to Collinge once too often and was stumped for 33. This brought Ryan Stephenson to the crease, and immediately the scoring tempo increased.  East introduced Leach and brought back Hugh McDowell who had opened the bowling, and then Toby Ingram, but South were scoring at around 5 runs an over, and at the 40 over drinks break, they were 151-4, targeting a score of 200 plus.  Initially South looked well on target, as 23 runs were taken from the next 3 overs, then Ryan Stephenson went for another big hit and was bowled for 45 by a determined Paris Pinney.  This was a superb knock, as it was class batting rather than just thunderous hitting.  The partnership was 89 in 16 overs.  Lenygon brought back Debenham into the attack and immediately had success, as Thompson went down the pitch for a big hit, got an outside edge that was brilliantly taken by Rice behind the stumps.  Thompson had scored 27 in his patient innings, he had rotated the strike, and was upset not to see the innings through to a close. East took advantage of the new players coming to the crease, and upped the intensity of their fielding and bowling, with Pinney and Debenham bowling tight lines, not giving the new batsmen much to swing at.  Aaron Hearn perished going for a big hit, and in the last over 2 further South batsmen were out in the desperate search for runs.  South ended tantalisingly on 199-9, with extras top scoring with 64, of which 31 were wides.  Paris Pinney had the best bowling figures: 10-0-34-4.

After the tea break, East started their innings.  The weather had changed, and it was now quite cold as well as cloudy.  Both sides were aware that an early breakthrough could be crucial, and intense cricket was played.  Mike Collinge, who opened with Miles Leygon was hitting the ball very sweetly, and this caused an early injury to Luke Tuckett who took a blow on the side of the knee.  He was able to take a rest as South had a squad of 13, so there was at least one spare player available!  Indeed, leg or knee injuries became a recurrent theme as the match progressed, with Joe Davis and Ryan Stephenson suffering as well. Andy Longstreet had opened the bowling for South with Matt Hickey, but this week, it was the Captain Matt Hickey who made the breakthrough for South, bowling Lenygon for 5, making the score 15-1 in the 6th over.  Henry Parkin came to the wicket, and soon showed that he was going to hit any wayward bowling very hard.  Angus Wilson replaced Longstreet, and then Ryan Stephenson replaced Hickey.  In Stephenson’s first over Collinge was late on the shot and caught by Tom Field, 45-2 in the 12th over. East were ahead of the rate, and Henry Parkin and Hugh McDowell settled in for a long stand.  They were especially severe with Wilson, but struggled to get Stephenson away, and the South fielding was very sharp, with fielders getting bodies in the way to stop any chance of the ball getting through the ring.  At the 20 over drinks break, East were 78 for 2, and South needed wickets.  Very soon, Hickey brought spin into the attack, with Roger Doxat-Pratt from one and Tom Field from the other.  These bowlers brought a degree of control to the scoring, although McDowell used his feet beautifully to Doxat-Pratt and hit him out of the attack with three 4s in an over. However, the control exerted some pressure and Parkin was run out during this period as communication broke down between the batsmen.  He had scored a most valuable 32, in just over the hour.  The score was 100 for 3, and out strolled Will Gater to try and take control.  Gater only knows how to play in one style, and South felt the full force of his bat as he hit East into a winning position with 34 in 35 balls.  He hit 2 big sixes, and was very severe with Tuckett who was brought into the attack to try and stop the flow of runs. So Hickey brought himself back on and immediately had Gater, caught and bowled first ball, making the score 158-3, but was this too little too late.  McDowell meanwhile had been scoring quite freely on his own account.  He played very sensibly, attacking shots mixed with solid defence, and he picked the gaps brilliantly whenever he lofted the ball.  He was slightly fortunate to be dropped by Hickey when on 49, but it was a difficult catch, with Hickey diving to his right at cover point.  East knew that they just had to keep playing and the match was surely theirs, but they had lost from a winning position last week against the North, so nerves were a little stretched! Toby Ingram joined Hugh McDowell and they consolidated against some fiery bowling from Hickey and Stephenson.  The score mounted slowly with just one 4 scored in 10 overs.  South were fighting hard, and their heads never dropped.  At the 40 over drinks break, the score was 186 for 4, with East needing just 16 for the win.  At the resumption, Ingram was bowled by Stephenson, (186-5) and then in the next Stephenson over Hugh McDowell was finally out LBW for a magnificent 70. (190-6). Longstreet and Hearn came back into the attack, and both bowled tightly but Western and Debenham had enough to keep them out and see East home, with 21 balls to spare.  Stephenson ended with figures of 10-2-22-3.

Well done East for the victory, hard luck South for a gutsy performance, some very good cricket was played throughout the match, a credit to youth cricket in Devon. Thanks are due to Brixham for hosting the match so well, and to the two umpires who were allowed the game to progress so smoothly.  As a result of the match, South got 7 points and East 19 points, so after 2 games, both sides have won one and lost one, with all to play for in the final set of matches.

West v North - West won by 85 runs

Batting first the West scored 189 with Jake Luffman scoring 35, Josh Coker 45 and extras contribting 41. Jack Perham took 4-30 off 9.5 overs. Luffman and Coker put on 71 for the third wicket. The North were never up with the clock being bowled out in 33.5 overs, B.Curtis topped scored with 24 out of the total of 104. Alam, Bulley and Price took two wickets apiece.