Medstead U9's vs Wield U9's, Sat 16th May
Wield 271-2 , Medstead 214-11 - Wield win by 67 runs
A roadtrip today, out of Wield to the hilly wilds of Medstead but there was very little wind and the sun actually shone! We arrived for the pre-match warm-up at 9.30am as Medstead gradually turned up and with a flurry of activity five minutes before ten we were ready to go. Millie the Captain won the toss and without hesitation put us into bat. Mixing things up this weekend we started with Millie and Summer and some excellent running between the stumps. The ball was coming on nicely thanks to the astro-turf wicket and both were hitting well. After the first four overs we were 207-1. Ella and Issy took up their positions and again, with some judicious running we moved on to 219-2, an excellent platform for the latter half of the innings. William and Josh came in and the runs started to flow more easily. William took both bowlers to task hitting fours around the ground and both scampered quick singles, taking advantage of overthrows. The score swept to 244-2 and Wield was looking good. Our final pair of Olly B and Alex dashed out with their usual enthusiasm and took singles with almost total abandon, rushing the score to a season’s high of 271-2 at the close. Our two new players Summer and Issy had shown the depth of the squad this year, both playing in their first match for Wield and doing a fine job.
Now as we already know away teas do not often come up to scratch. However, our neighbours in Medstead produced a good spread of squash and biscuits for the players while the home and away supporters all did well with tea and coffee. Fully refreshed we returned to the field of play.
Millie and Summer began and Millie held Medstead back opening with a maiden. In Summer’s first over for Wield quick fielding from Issy produced a run-out, then Millie followed by bowling their opener and took another run-out as the pressure was clearly telling. The score stuttered to 198-3 as Ella and Issy strolled up to their creases. Ella took a beautiful caught and bowled at mid-off and then her pace blasted through Medstead’s defences as the stumps were splayed in her second over – 209-5. William and Josh eagerly took over and Wield had a purple patch. In his first over Josh bowled three wickets and took a run-out as well, sitting on a hat-trick in the middle and at the end of the over. Unseen since Sam’s fivefer in the final game of the 2013 season this concentrated burst of destruction reduced Medstead to 202-9 after twelve overs, surely they were going to find it hard to recover from that?! However, as Alex and Olly B arrived to mop up the tail they encountered some spirited resistance. The final Medstead pair Rory and Benji cut loose and the score rose, but Olly B pegged them back a little by bowling one in his first over. Alex steadied things at the other end. As the batters’ running became a little more desperate Olly, in a brilliant piece of short mid-wicket retrieval, turned and threw down the bowlers’ end stumps with the batsman well short - Medstead were finished on 214-11.
This was a terrific performance by Wield, good strokeplay and quick running, then accurate bowling and devastatingly fast reactions in the field – 4 run-outs and 6 bowled from the 11 wickets. Issy and Summer did a great job in their first game for Wield and we’ll look forward to seeing both again as the season progresses. Both our highest batting score and most wickets so far and we finished the morning warm from the sun too – all was well with the Wield world.
Rupert Cazalet