Steep U15 v Petersfield U15 - 8th July 2013

Petersfield U15 Match Report

Steep U15 v Petersfield U15 - 8^th July 2013

Result:

Petersfield U15 – 152 for 4; Steep U15 – 148 for 5

Petersfield U15 Won by 4 runs

Petersfield U15 beat local rivals Steep with a narrow victory by 4 runs in an exciting and tense match played at Steep on 8^th July. This was revenge for Petersfield who had lost the home fixture against Steep by 1 run back in June. It was an excellent game, a credit to both teams, with 300 runs scored during the evening for the loss of 9 wickets with 36 fours and 2 sixes hit.

Petersfield won the toss and elected to bat on a glorious summer evening at the picturesque Steep ground. With short boundaries and a lightning fast outfield it was always likely to be a high scoring match and this it proved to be. Dan Parry, one of the Petersfield openers, was in blistering form hitting 6 fours in a 24 ball score of 35. He was caught out by Zac Guyer off the bowling of J Pound trying 1 too many off side attacking shot towards the short boundary. This brought Ben Anscombe in who played an excellent supporting role to Gabriel Broadhurst who took over the attacking Dan Parry role. It was no surprise when Broadhurst had to retire for another undefeated 50 scored his 51 runs in 49 balls hitting six fours. Josh Bird joined Ben Anscombe and they pushed the score along nicely before Jack Noble trapped Ben Anscombe for 10. This brought Joe Mayell to the crease who scored a rapid 9 off only 6 balls before he was clean bowled by Billy Barnes going for another big 4. Rory Claasen came out to bat and followed up where Joe had left off hitting a glorious 4 to the square leg boundary before sacrificing himself in a run out on the 2^nd to last ball of the match. In form Ollie Simpson came to the crease for the last ball but at the non-strikers end. He forced Josh Bird to run a cheeky single off the last ball of the innings leaving Josh Bird undefeated on 15 off only 15 balls and Petersfield with a good score of 152 for 4 off their 20 overs. Whilst all the Steep players bowled and fielded well particular mention must be made of J Pound 4 overs 1 for 21; Christain Hedicker 4 overs 0 for 21 and M O'Kelly 3 overs 0 for 17.

Whilst the Petersfield coach was pleased with the batting display, he was concerned that Petersfield might have been 15-20 runs short of a defendable total bearing in mind how quick the outfield was. Steep started their innings in a very positive style and 27 for the loss of no wickets off the first 3 overs. Steep lost their first wicket with the score at 38 when J Pound hit the ball firmly to Josh Bird off the bowling of Tom Pocock (4 overs 1 for 29). The Steep batsman used the pace of the Petersfield opening bowlers of Pocock and Simpson to guide the balls into the gaps and towards the short boundaries and so Alex Squires (4 overs 1 for 29) the Petersfield captain decided to take some of the pace off the ball by bringing himself and Harry Richards on to bowl. In his excellent first over Squires took the wicket of Guyer caught by Joe Mayell at mid-off for 1. In the last overs of their bowling spell both Richards and Squires were targeted by the Steep batsman going for 13 runs and 14 runs respectively. With both bowlers the extra balls created by wides or no-balls were punished with boundaries. To try to take even more pace off the ball Squires brought Ben Anscombe (4 overs 1 for 17) and Will Morton-Scott into the attack. Both bowlers bowled well although Morton-Scott did suffer from the short leg side boundary. Jack Noble the Steep opening batsman (and cousin on Petersfield's Broadhurst) hit Morton-Scott for a huge six to bring up his 50 retiring on 51 (the same score as his cousin) off only 37 balls. At 120 for 2 off 15 overs Steep were the favourites to win. M O'Kelly was batting very aggressively scoring 36 before he was run out following a mix up with his batting partner Ethan Francis (24*). Tom Pocock, Ben Anscombe and Alex Squires all bowled tight last overs to leave Steep needing 12 off the last over from Ollie Simpson to win the match. Ollie bowled with real pace and accuracy and with a further run out and despite an edged 4 off the second to last ball Steep required 5 to win off the last ball and Simspon rapped Francis on the leg for Petersfield to win by 4 runs. The match was a good game to watch and was a credit to both teams and a great advert for colts cricket.

Teams:

Petersfield : G Broadhurst ⁽⁺⁾; D Parry; B Anscombe; J Bird; J Mayell; R Claasen; O Simpson; T Pocock; H Richards; A Squires ^(*); W Morton-Scott

Steep: J Pound; J Noble; Z Guyer; M O'Kelly; E Francis; P Seamen; J Bowden; C Hedicker; B Barnes; +1; +1