A Fantastic Week of Cricket Fixtures

Wednesday 20th May 

U11/10 Cricket v The Elms 

The U11/10s travelled to The Elms this week to face a very strong side fresh from winning the IAPS regional tournament at Taunton, so we knew it would be a challenging afternoon. 

Captain Josh won the toss and elected to field first. The Elms started strongly and scored quickly from the outset, putting our bowlers under pressure. Romi provided an early breakthrough with a superb delivery to dismiss one of the openers, but The Elms continued to build momentum throughout the innings. Three of their batters retired on 30 after excellent knocks. Joshua bowled well to claim two wickets, while Pip also chipped in with a wicket late on to help slow the scoring rate. However, The Elms finished on an imposing 159 from their 20 overs. 

In reply, we knew we would need to bat exceptionally well to stay in the contest. Romi batted positively throughout the innings and built several promising partnerships with Joshua, Matthew, Thea and Monty. Despite a determined effort from the whole team, we ultimately fell short of the target. 

The standout batting performances came from Romi and Joshua. Romi played superbly for 22 runs on a very large boundary, showing excellent composure and shot selection. Joshua produced his best batting display of the term, playing a number of classy shots before being dismissed by an excellent ball. 

Although the result did not go our way, there were many positives to take from the match against a very strong opposition side. The team showed resilience, determination and great teamwork throughout the afternoon. 

U11/10 Cricket v The Elms 

KSA U10/11 took on The Elms looking to bounce back after such a close game last week, and the boys responded with a fantastic all-round team performance. 

We decided to bowl first where the boys needed to get off to a great start which is exactly what we did. Our bowling was super tight from ball one and this resulted in us taking a flurry of wickets, including some amazing run outs. The best of the lot came from Bertie, whose direct hit from the boundary was brilliant to see and summed up the energy and effort shown in the field throughout the innings. 

As a team, we dismissed their batters 10 times, with the wickets shared between Max C, Oscar, Zach and Ben, who finished with outstanding figures of 4 wickets for just 10 runs from his 3 overs! A special mention also goes to Jack Clift and Oscar, who bowled an incredible 23 dot balls from their 30 deliveries while conceding only 9 runs between them. This superb bowling and fielding performance set us up perfectly to chase a smaller target as a result of all these wickets. 

In our batting innings, we started steadily, protecting our wickets and looking to rotate the strike whenever possible. With a big leg-side boundary making boundaries difficult to come by, the boys adapted brilliantly by running lots of hard twos, which was great to see. Jack Cox, Harvey, Dylan, Bertie and Jacob all did an excellent job of taking advantage of any loose bowling to keep the scoreboard moving. 

The Elms continued to take regular wickets throughout the innings, which kept pegging our score back and meant every run became incredibly important. Hugo then finished the game off in style with some powerful shots at the end of our innings to ensure KSA got over the line. 

This was one of our best bowling displays as a team this season, where we bowled 80 dot balls out our 120 balls which is a great statistic! Hopefully, the boys can take that confidence into our next game after half term and continue their strong form with both bat and ball. 

U11/U10 Cricket v Winterfold 

The U11/U10 cricket team put in a strong effort against Winterfold in an exciting match. After winning the toss, we elected to bat first on the astro surface, where the pace of the ball proved challenging early on. It took some time for the players to adjust, but they grew in confidence as the innings progressed. Well done to Jack, who struck a four, and to Daniel and Max for their excellent running between the wickets, collecting vital singles. We finished with a solid total of 221. 

In the field, our bowling was excellent, taking five wickets, four of which were bowled. Hannah and Elodie delivered particularly accurate overs and were unlucky not to concede fewer runs. Despite our efforts, Winterfold managed to surpass our score, finishing on 250. Congratulations to Daniel, named batter of the match, and Hannah, our bowler of the match. 

U11/U10 Cricket v Winterfold 

King’s St Alban’s enjoyed a sunny afternoon of softball cricket at Winterfold. A light breeze and the slope of the wicket added an extra challenge for the bowlers, but KSA adapted well throughout the match. 

Fielding first, King’s St Alban’s made an excellent start with disciplined bowling from Millie and Cerys, each delivering overs containing five dot balls. Maddie followed with an excellent maiden over to keep the pressure on the Winterfold batters. Aria made a strong contribution with two wickets and a sharp stumping behind the stumps. Henry and Rudy also bowled consistently well, each recording five dot balls in their overs. Poppy bowled with accuracy and took two wickets, including another well-taken stumping. Lillianna was dynamic in the field throughout and worked hard when chasing the ball. 

King’s St Alban’s carried their momentum into batting, combining powerful hitting with smart placement. Winterfold introduced a rule where wides and no balls were replayed from a cone instead of awarding two runs, and KSA made good use of the extra opportunities. Most of the team hit at least one boundary during the innings. Savannah scored 11 runs in a single over and played a number of excellent reverse sweeps from the cone. The team took some risks to take quick singles but also played sensibly when needed, aware that a wicket would cost the team -5 runs. Communication and running between the wickets were strong throughout. 

It was pleasing to see both teams respond positively to coaching during the game and improve as the match went on. Overall, King’s St Alban’s fully deserved their convincing victory after a strong all-round team performance.