Didsbury U11 v Lindow CC U11 28th April 2018

Lindow Man was probably lying somewhere under this boggy square, which had the look of a tricky pitch - and so it transpired. Skipper Ben Lowe won the toss and invited Lindow to bat first. His decision was then vindicated in the second over with Jude Chilvers bowing a double wicket maiden in his first over of hard ball cricket at the club. Great line and crucially a full length was essential to Jude’s success giving Didsbury a fantastic start. Christian again bowled nicely but without success on this occasion. Mohammed and Liam bowled well in tandem, ensuring Lindow could not pick up any momentum - Mohammed taking his first wicket of the season. The suffocating bowling was maintained by the A team of Arlo and Alfie. Arlo has developed consistency after the opening game of the season and Alfie here making an eye catching debut with both bat and ball. Arlo also demonstrated his accuracy in the field with an excellent direct hit swooping in from midwicket to run out the Lindow batsman looking for any means to score runs. In fact, hardly any runs were scored off the bat with Didsbury extras easily top scoring. Ben had his first bowl of the season, generating some good pace and picking up 2 wickets in the process, with Ethan ably supporting him from the other end. The innings was brought to an abrupt end with closing bowlers Dillon and Cameron cleaning up the tail with 2 wickets apiece. Dillon is displaying great control with the ball and developing into a very good bowler. Cameron making adjustments to his action was rewarded with 2 well deserved wickets of his own. The fielding was generally excellent on a cold day – Ben led from the front, making some spectacular saves in the field and Harry marked his first appearance with the gloves with a real assurance (and a bruised knee!).

Chasing a modest target was always going to be less than straightforward on the peat bog wicket, but Mohammed stuck around to see off the new ball whilst Liam threw his bat literally at the Lindow attack, sending the willow deeper into the outfield than most of the shots played on the day. He batted well again anchoring down one end whilst Christian and then Ben pushed the scored along quickly. Both were out looking to play their shots, Ben having some success with a couple of lovely pulls through square for boundaries. They were joined back in the hutch by Jude, who played neatly before being beaten by a ball that moved off the pitch and also Arlo after playing too early to a straight one. Settling the nerves were Alfie who played with a calm authority and ice man Ethan who saw Didsbury over the line after Harry joined him at the other end following Alfie’s super debut knock. The scorecard shows that 7 Didsbury batsman were bowled, which tells us that we missed a lot of straight deliveries. Experience will encourage the boys to play straight on wickets like this, only playing more expansively on wider deliveries.

A good early season performance though, with a win rarely in doubt. There is a nice squad developing here that will enjoy more success if the batsman learn the lessons about shot selection and the bowlers are less generous with the wides.

Thanks to Ella and Jane for flexing their scoring muscles on the new app. It is fantastic to see so many parents getting involved.