Under 11s V Cheadle

With the weather just on our side, an enthusiastic crowd arrived to witness what was going to be an exciting, tight and nervy local derby.

The overnight rain had made the wicket a bit soft, and winning the toss, Didsbury decided to put the home team into bat. The opening bowling attack was tight from both Rehan and George limiting Cheadle’s runs in the first 4 overs, but as the wicket quickly dried, the opening batsmen settled into a good routine and started posting what was set to be a decent score.

The first wicket was a long time coming, but a smart ball from Aiden forced the batsman to edge it into Adam’s waiting wicket keeper gloves. Suliman had 2 productive overs taking 2 more wickets and Didsbury looked to be pegging back the Cheadle score. But a couple of dropped catches and some strong batting saw the home team inevitably edging towards the century.

Oliver opening his bowling well, forcing another edged ball to land cleanly into Adams gloves for the wicket. With a consistent bowling performance from Seb and Sam, real promise from Fin and Ayaan it was left to Raheem to closed the bowling attack. He did this in style taking 3 more wickets - 2 from some clever slower balls which took the batsman by surprise.

In the field the team were strong, and despite a couple of missed catches there was again a real team spirit and wild throws from the boundary to stumps were limited. Backing-up was again notable in its improvement, however the 22 extras would come back to haunt us.

As the crowd grabbed their rain coats and the black clouds made a brief appearance, Didsbury knew they needed a strong batting performance to challenge the 112, posted by Cheadle.

And they were definitely up for the challenge…

Opening the order Raheem and Fin started as the team needed to go on, stealing runs keeping the score board ticking over, but inevitably this enthusiasm for runs led to Fin being run out. Raheem hit 5 boundaries smashing a super six to take him to 27 and retirement.

Suliman started well, and was unlucky to be stumped by the wicket keeper as he drifted out of his crease. Before he became another wicket keeper victim, Adam showed some great promise in his opening hits adding 11 to the board and putting pressure on the middle order to keep up a challenging run rate.

A great partnership and superb running from George and Rehan saw the tension in the crowd rise as they started to believe Didsbury could do it.

But more wickets were to fall…with a run out for Rehan (on a score of 24) and both Sam and Seb sacrificing themselves for the team in the run chase.

This was going to the wire – with George and Oliver facing the last 4 balls of the game we needed 8 to win. The pair pushed their running trying to grab the singles but left George, on a score of 23, with the difficult task of scoring 6 from the last ball for victory.

Unfortunately there was no fairy-tale ending and despite a gritty performance Cheadle sealed the victory by just 4 runs.
Emma Slater

Coaches Note: When you fall just short in a game it can be really frustrating. However, the boys performance was excellent, individually and collectively. 2 quick thoughts from me; firstly, in close games the trick is to keep calm under pressure. The chatter from the fielding side and the shouts from the supporters can muddle your thinking. The boys generally were really controlled and didn't let the situation get to them, with the only cracks appearing in the running between the wickets - we need to work on that. Secondly, we gave away no balls, wides, misfields and overthrows in the field. With the bat we turned down the odd single and didn't pressure the fielders to turn ones into 2's. This game was a perfect illustration that "every run counts", so let's take that attitude into the next game.