Winning start for RCC U11B

Richmond lost the toss and Teddington put us into bat.

Joe O’Pray and Jon Read opened and got us off to a steady start – but then Joe was caught and bowled for 4 and Jon played on for 9 so after 3 overs we were 13 for 2. Ollie and James W then took the bowling to task and before I knew it we were on 73 for 2 off of 10. Ollie attempted a straight drive which looked like going for 6 to the long on boundary but bounced just short. Ollie retired on 28 (hit a 4 on demand off of his last ball!!). Benedict joined James. Benedict is a steady batsman – nurdles singles here and there – nothing dramatic. James was retired on 25. Nathan was bowled for a golden duck and then Evan and Benedict closed out the innings – Evan run out last ball attempting a single that was never there on instruction from me “run it whatever happens!!” Evan r/o 4 Benedict n/o 9
Innings closed on 132 – they bowled 18 wides; and 5 no balls

It was no surprise after what I saw in the nets that the bowling was superb – we gave away 11 wides and 2 no balls. Of the wides 3 were by Lachlan in the last over and 4 by Joe.
That aside we kept it really tidy - in 2 overs – Benedict conceded 3 runs , Ollie 4, Jon 4, Evan 5, Nathan 6, Nicholas 7 .... and all of them pretty straight!
After 10 overs we had only conceded 25 runs. Every bowler did their bit.
In the field the backing up and noise level was good – I gave them an incentive – the match ball to the player making most noise and backing up best. This went to Joe who took the only catch that was on offer off of Ralph’s first ball and backed up to save a certain 4 from an Ollie over throw.

The only negative was that players constantly moved themselves in the field (jonathan and ollie ) and weren’t always concentrating when we were getting the ball back to the bowler (Lachlan).

I think Lachlan has great potential but in his last over he tried to bowl too fast and was a bit wayward. Benedict bowled very straight but could do with learning to hit the ball a bit harder when batting. Ollie lacks a bit of finesse but can tonk it!!
Lachlan Matthew Nicholas and Ralph didn’t bat – I will try and put this right next time they play.

A great start. They will have tougher games in the weeks ahead but very happy with a winning start.