Portsmouth CC v Petersfield CC 5th May 2013

Portsmouth CC v Petersfield CC 5th May 2013 The first game of the season for the U13 lads was away at Portsmouth CC. The St Helens ground was a picture as ever and the game started with new Under 13 Captain Matt Friend winning the toss and electing to bowl. This proved an inspired decision as Matt (2-4 off 3 overs) removed opener D Davis (0) after 2 balls and then strike partner Joe Clarke (1-5 off 2 overs) removed J Hunter (5) leaving Portsmouth on 11-2. Petersfield kept things tight but could not remove C Slimm (32 retired) or A Patel (28) as they put on 81 for the 3rd wicket. Once Slimm retired after some big hitting Petersfield got back into the match as Harvey Baker (2-17 off 2.5) removed Patel and S Sparkes (11) in his 3 overs where it seemed it was wicket/wide/wicket as he got the ball to swing like a banana. If he could get 4 or 5 balls pitching on middle stump he would be devastating. Kit Classen (1-12 off 2) then removed M Chapman (6) with a delivery which turned and bounced taking the top off off stump and breaking the off bail in the process. His second over was a real joy to watch but the spin the wicket was giving would come back to haunt the Petersfield team in their own innings. With a very young side Petersfield did well to restrict Portsmouth to 118-6 especially after the 3rd wicket stand of 81. Praise should also go to Luke McGuire (0-12), Tommy Mathews (0-10), Harry Richards (0-13) and William Milner-Smith (0-15) for keeping plugging away with some very good bowling under pressure. When Petersfield batted the spin of A Patel (4-10 off 4 overs) and O Davis (3-3 off 3 overs) accounted for the first 7 wickets leaving the away side on 24-7. When Thomas Stevens was run out by man of the match Patel after a mix up with the calling (need to work on that) Petersfield were 24-8 and in danger of being bowled out very cheaply indeed. Enter the 2 gladiators Tommy Mathews (13 not out) and Harvey Baker (11 not out) who saw out 10 overs without much alarm leaving Petersfield 48-8 off their 20 overs. With the quality of the spinners on show for Petersfield and lack of experience from the young side the coach thought that the young lads had done really well to give Portsmouth CC a very good game. If a couple of catches had gone to hand instead of dropping into the gaps we may have been able to restrict them to 30 runs less giving us a real chance. Men of the Match for Petersfield Harvey Baker and Tommy Mathews for there stirling rearguard action Magic Moment - Kit Classen for topping a brilliant bowling spell off by taking a wicket and breaking the bail.