Didsbury U11 V. Stretford U11 18 JUNE 2017

In spite of a school activity trip depriving the home side of some regular players, Didsbury were able to draw on their resources to field a strong team against Stretford. Buoyed by their cup success in mid-week the team entered the match with an optimism which, nevertheless, respected the strength of their opponents, and incisive fielding drills in the warm up gave little indication of what was to follow in a game where the ascendency regularly passed between the teams. Against a somewhat unfamiliar backdrop of sunshine and cloudless skies Stretford won the toss and elected top bat first. The pitch looked in perfect condition, and the hot dry weather in the days leading up to the contest suggested a fast outfield likely to keep the fielding side on their toes.

This theory was not dispelled by Rehan’s pacey opening over, his strong body action giving his back of a length deliveries good carry through to Fin standing some distance behind the stumps. At this point it looked as if the openers would struggle to put bat on ball, but, the dry outfield meant that any decent contact beating the infield was always likely to end up at the boundary, as Jan found in his first over. A fine stop by Will just behind square in Rehan’s second over saving a certain boundary, and a miserly second over from Jan, clawed back the initiative, which was maintained by Seb and Aiden during the next four overs, during which Seb took the first of the visitor’s wickets to fall.

It was at this point that indecision and lack of concentration in the field contributed to the visitors once again gaining the upper hand. The extreme heat may have been partly to blame for the untidy fielding, but as a spectator you felt for Sam, Will, Oisin and Joe, who did little wrong other than being unfortunate enough to be bowling at a time when misfields, overthrows and extras contributed heavily to the batting side’s total. Nevertheless there were a few bright moments during this period, notably Raheem’s contribution to a run out, and good saves in the field from Jan, Milan and Aiden off the bowling of Sam, Oisin and Joe respectively. As the visitors strove to press home the advantage in the final overs Milan clean bowled two batsmen attempting aggressive strokes, and Fin ran round from behind the stumps to complete a run out as the batsmen tried to sneak a cheeky single in the final over bowled by Raheem, all of which left the hosts a target of 137 runs.

Didsbury’s run chase began with Raheem and Rehan opening the batting, the first runs off the bat coming from a text book off drive for four from Raheem. Despite this encouraging start by the time Rehan was bowled with the score on 12 Didsbury were beginning to lag behind the required run rate of just under 7 per over. The dismissal brought Aiden to the crease, who was quickly off the mark with a leg side boundary. This set the tone for an entertaining, hard hitting knock of 28 only brought to its conclusion, with the score on 58, by the rule requiring batsmen to retire having passed 25.

Once Aiden had departed Raheem, who until then had anchored the innings, looked to score more freely, and, in partnership with Fin, advanced the score to 67 before he too fell victim to retirement. His final act was to launch another boundary before being applauded off for a well-constructed 27 just before the end of the tenth over. Thanks largely to the efforts of the two retirees, Didsbury were exactly up with the required run rate, being 68 for one wicket at the half way point of their reply.

Inevitably, however, the loss of two well set batsmen in quick succession affected the momentum of the innings, and with the Stretford team reinvigorated following a drinks break, runs suddenly became more difficult to find. When Fin fell to a sharp reflex catch in the covers, and Joe was bowled with the score on 78, pressure was starting to mount on the incoming lower order batsmen, who, with 43 runs required from the final 4 overs, were left with little time to play themselves in. Both Sam and Jan moved off the mark with well hit fours, but perished soon after in pursuit of an ever escalating run rate. Even Oisin, having survived being bowled by a no ball, couldn’t repeat his heroics of three days earlier and was caught behind in the penultimate over. With an unlikely 21 needed from the final over the task became impossible when Seb was bowled by a full toss, which he effectively made into a beamer by advancing down the pitch, leaving Will and Milan to see the game out 19 runs short.

Unfortunate lapses in the field in the middle of Stretford’s innings ultimately cost Didsbury dear in this match, and, unlike the cup game three days earlier, the middle and lower order could not quite come to the team’s rescue this time. A good effort overall with bat and ball, but there are three key disciplines to this game, and the importance of good fielding cannot be underestimated.

Duncan Sanderson