Richmond U11As break Teddington hearts in Bushy Park Thriller!

Richmond U11A 136 for 2 beat Teddington U11A 134 for 4
Sunday 11th June 2017
Bushy Park

Richmond U11As break Teddington hearts in Bushy Park Thriller!

In our U11 age group we come across Teddington in both the mid-week West Middlesex League and the weekend Mid Surrey league. They are strong club, and always present good challenge....and this game was no exception. Richmond won the toss, and Sam G, our captain for the day, elected to field. Arjun G and Sam G opened the bowling with a tight first 8 overs, conceding just 38 runs between them on a pitch that proved to very much favour the batsman. Neil P (2 wickets), James J, Hugo K, Archie D (1 wicket) and Findlay B then shared out the rest of the overs between them, with all managing to find a good line and length. Along with Neil's and Archie's wickets, there was an excellent run-out, with Ani S and Oscar Y combining very sharply to remove the Teddington opener, and some very committed fielding, with one terrific full stretch diving effort from Finlay W sticking in the memory. Even so, Teddington powered to an impressive score of 134 for 4 off their allotted 20 overs. Whilst this was a high total, it was mainly down to Teddington's good batting and the favourable conditions of a fast outfield and shorter than normal boundaries. Richmond's fielding and bowling was very good throughout, and the extras count was kept to just 11 (with only 2 wides and 5 byes in the total), which is a really good effort at this age.

Needing 135 to win, our half time team talk was all about batting positively and staying on top of the required run-rate. Hugo K and Finlay W opened the batting in an impressive manner, and after 10 overs they had taken us through at a nice pace to 66 without loss. Both were compulsorily retired on 33 shortly after, giving way to Findlay B (23) and Sam G (17), who also went on to bat very nicely, as they kept Richmond on course to reach that 135 target. As Richmond closed on the total, both Findlay B and Sam G fell to attacking shots as they unselfishly sought to up the pace in the closing overs. This left our final batting pair of James H and Ani S to get the last few nail-biting runs, and deliver the coup de gras with just 3 balls left in the final over.

A great game, and a fantastic team effort. All eleven players should feel very pleased with themselves.

Man of the Match: Sam G, for a classy all round effort that included an excellent opening spell of bowling, and some nerveless batting under pressure later in the game.