Petersfield U11A v Portsmouth U11A

Having been asked to bat by the Portsmouth captain, the Petersfield openers carefully navigated their first competitive overs of the season under a rare May sun. 

The home team bowled tight lines and lengths, but Petersfield kept the scoreboard ticking with sharp ones and twos, finding it hard to reach the boundary on a deceptively slow outfield. The loss of Charles Neville  in the 3rd over brought in Ossian Tate to join Joe Clarke, and the pair built a solid partnership with Tate's ability to hit big increasing the rate and earning him a retirement on 23 in quick time. 

Petersfield accumulated steadily and lost only two more wickets with opener Clarke retiring on 22 in the 14th over after a patient and well constructed innings. The batsmen were unable to accelerate in the last quarter, finding it hard to put bat on ball throughout some quick death bowling. However, a solid 96 for 3 seemed a good return for their twenty overs.

Portsmouth were kept in check for the first few overs, with the bowlers giving little away and Ed Braithwaite's sharp throw from the cover boundary running out Randall scrambling for a third run. The batting side rallied, and good running kept them in touch with the asking rate. Harvey Baker took a good catch off a thick edge running around from third man but Portsmouth continued to bat patiently and were 48/2 at the halfway point.

Petersfield needed wickets, and we're rewarded in the 13th over. First, a bamboozler from Oscar Amis castled the Portsmouth batsman. The new batsman hoicked his first ball over Tommy Matthews at mid-on who chased, turned and threw down the wicket. With Petersfield on a team hat-trick, Amis got his next ball to climb sharply and a big top edge was well taken by Thomas Stevens at fine leg. 

Portsmouth recovered well from the loss of 3 in 3 balls, and put pressure on the fielders with good running between the wickets. The loss of Clarke with a broken finger after a brave stop at cover meant Petersfield would have to see out the remaining overs with only ten on the field, and without their opening bowler.

Needing 5 to win from the last over, the Portsmouth batsman latched on to a no-ball and timed a pull behind square for four.

The home team edged the match with their determination to take risky runs throughout their innings in a tight game of high-quality cricket.

A great effort from Petersfield in their first A league game of the season. Losing by 5 wickets in the final over.

Team

Ossian Tate (capt), Harvey Baker, Jack Butcher, Joe Clarke, Charles Neville, James Bradley, Cameron Porteous, Tommy Matthews, Thomas Stevens, Oscar Amiss, Ed Braithwaite