The Under 12 teams travelled to Whitgift School on Saturday morning, and bowling first restricted them to 142-6 from 20 overs. In reply, Ben Adamson scored an excellent 41 not out, but tight bowling left us 17 runs short at the end of our innings. The B team batted first and scored 103 with Dylan Dreyer top scoring, but although the game was in the balance after an excellent bowling spell from Daniel Barker who took 2-14, Whitgift reached our total with 2 overs to spare. The C team were also defeated by 7 wickets although Mihir Popat and Fred O’Donoghue batted well in our total of 75.
The Under 13 team had a very tough morning against strong Whitgift sides. Despite a good start with the bat, the As collapsed against some excellent spin bowling to just 40 all out and despite two early wickets for Theo Austin they lost by 8 wickets. Both the Bs and Cs struggled to contain on small pitches as Whitgift scored over 170 in each match batting first which proved too many for us to chase.
The Under 14s travelled down to The King’s School, Canterbury on Saturday afternoon and both the As and Bs had fantastic wins in close matches. There was an incredible start to the A team game with Aditya Kumar taking two wickets off the first two balls and three in the first over. King’s fought back though, and despite an amazing catch by Matthew Arman and a fourth wicket for Aditya, they posted 152 in 30 overs. In reply, all of Eltham’s batsman contributed in the chase but were led by Man of the Match Aditya who scored 56. Although always up with the required run rate, the game went to the final over with Alex Clout hitting a four to win the game with 3 balls to spare. The Bs had an equally exciting game as they totalled 159-6 from 25 overs with Will Langton scoring 54. Kings were up with the rate in reply and ended up needing 17 off the final over, but U13 player Jack Ennis held his nerve to lead Eltham to a victory by 10 runs. Well done to Jack, Ishaq Ullah and Zach Sholapurkar who all played up a year.
More good matches for the Under 15s as the As won comfortably at home to King’s School, Canterbury whilst the Bs had a narrow defeat. A good team batting performance led by Rikin Parikh’s 45 helped the As to 207-8 from 30 overs. Ben Mirchandani, James Bush and Juan Chanthirikumaran all made good contributions too. Early wickets for James in reply put Kings under pressure, and ‘spin twins’ Yusuf Sait (3-16) and Alex Gallo (2-9) helped bowl them out for just 92. The Bs batted first and scored an impressive 166-5 from 20 overs with Max Taylor getting 62 and Jack Devonshire 60 not out. However, Kings came out attacking and were always up with the rate. Good spells and key wickets for Matty Coleman and Peter Devonshire looked to have won the game for Eltham but a six in the penultimate over before consecutive fours in the last over led King’s to victory in a superb match.
The 1st XI continued their excellent season beating King’s School, Canterbury by 9 wickets having dismissed them for just 63. Ben Day was the hero with incredible figures of 6 overs 1 maiden 6 wickets for 6 runs whilst Nico Murlowski, Owen Davies and James Smith picked up 1 wicket each as well as an Elliott LeHane run out on 1st XI debut. Sam Smith and Arran Khanna shared a 50 run opening partnership in reply as Sam raced to 46 not out as we chased the target in less than 10 overs. The 1st XI has a very busy week ahead with fixtures against Sevenoaks, Whitgift (National T20) and New Hall.
