06/09/2022
AUGUST REVIEW - U11s
The U11s welcomed Bury to Overway Meadow in early August and having won the toss and electing to field first, got straight to work with Josh B taking a wicket in the first over. Further wickets from James E, Jaden A-T, Billy S, Brendan H and Jacob G as well as three run outs capped off a fantastic bowling and fielding performance. The runs were evenly shared in reply with everyone chipping in, including superb innings from Annabel E and Kyson B to ease Nowton over the line by some distance.
Next up was a trip to Woolpit, where despite wickets from Billy S and Oscar M being the only breakthroughs, superb fielding still restricted the home side’s score. Nowton started their innings well with Josh B finding the boundary rope, however a flurry of wickets in the middle overs put Woolpit in a strong position leaving Elliot T and Jaden A-T needing 18 off the last 18 balls. The pair batted sensibly and put the bad balls away to seal the win for Nowton.
Nowton were then invited to play their first hardball game against Bury at the Victory Ground. Billy S, Kyson B and Freddie R (all three stepping up from U9s) made early in-roads, taking the wickets of dangerous batters. Owen S and Spencer M took further wickets and it was an impressive first fielding display playing with a hard ball. It was then the turn for Nowton to get their pads on (some for the first time in a competitive match). Josh B and Brendan H were the pick of the batters, but it was a superb finish all round. Nowton ended up short of the total, but a great experience for all.
The team of 8 took part in the Suffolk Hundred Festival and played matches against Battisford, Yoxford and Bury. James E and Josh B were destructive throughout with the bat and were support by strong hitting from Sophie W and Daniel W. Owen S and Ollie R were consistently accurate with their bowling and Greg S and Brendan H were superb in the field.
Later that same day, a slightly different side took part in the Woolpit Floodlight Festival where Nowton were drawn in a group with St Margaret’s and Woolpit. The first game was won with the bat with every player hitting boundaries to comfortably surpass the required total. The second game was won in the field with an extraordinary five catches taken in the short eight-over innings. A further two run outs were also taken in what was the best fielding performance of the season. So many cricket basics were put into perfect practice as every fielder backed each other up, took catches, ran players out and encouraged each other. This meant Nowton had won their group and sent them into the semi-final against a very strong Tuddenham side. It was late into the evening and the floodlights were at full power by the time the game began. Nowton fielded first and kept going despite some strong batting from the opponents. Ollie R took a great catch from Greg S’s bowling and two good run outs from Owen S and James E continued the impressive fielding that Nowton displayed all day. Elliot T and Billy S took wickets towards the end of the innings which proved important contributions. Josh B was now in full-flow and got Nowton’s reply off to a terrific start hitting 22 runs of 8 balls. Other batters struggled against quality bowling and wickets fell. The game came down to the final ball with Nowton requiring three runs to win. Up stepped Elliot T to smash a ball through a gap in the field to spark joyous scenes from the Nowton support. Elliot T took the applause and was lifted up by his team mates in celebration. With it being late into the night by this time, the decision was taken for Nowton and the winners of the other semi-final to both be awarded as joint winners of the tournament. A fitting end to a wonderful season. 😁🏏🌳👍
