Petersfield u16s recorded their second – and biggest – win of the indoor season, comfortably beating Gosport by 26 runs for a thoroughly deserved victory.
With skipper Thomas losing the toss for the 7th time in 8 matches, Petersfield were put into bat. Despite the rare occurrence of losing Broadhurst early, Thomas (26 ret’d) and Turk (27 ret’d) built a solid foundation, and Simpson pressed home the advantage with an aggressive 16.
Special mention for Ben Turk, who retired for the first time this season for passing 25, and displayed a full range of shots, from thumping straight drives to delicate dabs into the corner.
The running and calling between Turk and Simpson, two of the younger members of the team, was also exceptional. By the end, Simpson was even running byes to the keeper’s fumbles, with the ball a matter of inches from the stumps – great indoor cricket.
Petersfield finished on 131 for 2, the team’s second highest total of the season. It always looked to be beyond a young Gosport team, and so it proved.
Squires bowled well to take 2 for 25 off 3 overs, which included a sharp reaction catch by Straw close in. Some tight, clever bowling by Broadhurst and Turk at the death, plus a neatly executed run-out and a ticking off for the manager for (allegedly) coaching from the sidelines (denied, of course), meant that Gosport finished on 105.
This was a really pleasing win for the lads, who are improving with every game. The victory came on the back of a narrow defeat, but an excellent all-round team performance, against league high-flyers Purbrook in the previous match.
Thomas (20), Broadhurst (11), Simpson (23) and Squires (16) were among the runs – Squires’ straight six a notable highlight – the fielding was inspired, by Broadhurst in particular, and Turk bowled superbly (3 for 27 off 3), including castling county player Josh McCoy first ball with a brilliant outswinging yorker.
Chasing 134, the u16s fought hard all the way, falling just 14 runs short, a great effort.
This Sunday sees the last match of the season vs Portsmouth, with a mere 7 points separating the two sides. Definitely a winnable encounter and a great chance to finish the season with a flourish, which is no less than the lads deserve.
The team has gelled well as a unit and there have been some great individual performances during the course of the season. This is reflected in the league averages. Leading scorer Broadhurst is in 9th spot in the batting (171 runs at 34.2) and Squires 10th in the bowling (5 wickets at 9.62 runs per over). Thomas (batting) and Turk (bowling) aren’t far behind. All in all, it’s been an extremely encouraging season on the part of all the players involved.
Meanwhile the seniors lost a vital promotion tussle with Portsmouth B. Things looked promising after bowling Pompey out for 101, with 3 run-outs and a wicket apiece for Hannam and Rice. However ‘Field lost wickets at regular intervals in the chase and, despite a valiant 22 from Thomas, fell agonisingly short by just 6 runs. This leaves only a mathematical chance of promotion this season.
