Petersfield U15s vs Waterlooville

Petersfield U15s vs Waterlooville Petersfield lost by 14 runs Petersfield U15s may have narrowly lost against a strong Waterlooville side but put in their best all-round performance of the season. Winning the toss and inserting Waterlooville, the U15s did well to restrict their opponents to 128 all out thanks to clever bowling, well-set fields and solid catching. District player Harry Robbins blasted a powerful 43 including three sixes but the next highest score was just 15, so this was a terrific effort. Alex Squires led the way with 3 for 18, well supported by Rob Straw, Tom Pocock and Ollie Simpson with two wickets apiece, the latter accounting for danger-man Robbins, caught behind by Thomas off a skier. The opposition umpire, who is Waterlooville’s overseas player, said it was the best fielding performance he had seen all season. Anscombe, Egelstaff, Grange and Simpson all took catches, with Thomas picking up his customary stumping. In reply, openers Alex Thomas and Gabriel Broadhurst put on 59 for the first wicket and were up with the required run rate at the half-way stage. But when Thomas fell LBW for 30, this triggered a mini-collapse when 4 wickets fell in 4 overs for just 7 runs, which seemed to have put the game out of reach. Enter Ben Turk. In a superb knock of 36 not out in not-very-many balls, superbly supported by Broadhurst (32 not out), the young U13 players nearly took ’Field all the way to a famous victory – but fell agonisingly short. This was a heroic effort by the lads with a number of notable season highs. Our innings featured the three highest individual scores of the season and our total of 115 beat the previous best by 15 runs. ’Field actually scored more runs off the bat than Waterlooville. In the final analysis, it was the 34 extras including 22 wides that was the difference between the two sides. But this shouldn’t detract from what was a fantastic effort by the U15s and a very enjoyable match to watch. If this turns out to be the last game of the year, Petersfield have finished the season on a real high.