Following the beautiful weather of the Easter weekend, the Cricket season got underway last week in slightly colder conditions as the 1st XI played The Skinners’ School before a block fixture with The Judd School on Saturday.
After an encouraging training session last Tuesday the 1st XI kicked off the season with a 30-over match vs Skinners school on Wednesday. Captain Ken lost the toss, and the side fielded first and made a slow start as bowlers tried to find their rhythm. James was the pick of the seamers coming on first change and took the first wicket as Ben M took an excellent high catch. The spin trio of Connor, Yusuf and Joe bowled well in the second half of the innings and picked up regular wickets despite an excellent 100 for the Skinners opening batsman we restricted them to 160-5 off 30 overs.
Reyhan and Ken made a good start in reply, but both were dismissed with the score at 40. Regular wickets slowed down our chase, and although Ben D batted superbly for 60 we were always behind the run rate, and despite some late hitting by Joe, the team fell 26 runs short. It was a good run out for the first game of the season but lots to work on over the coming weeks.
The Under 15A team won by four wickets against The Judd School as some excellent batting from Fergus (31*) and Charlie R saw the side home with an over to spare chasing 95. The boys fielded and bowled well given the tough conditions they faced on Saturday with Charlie R, Matthew and Tom all picking up wickets. The Under 15B team batted first and ended up on 101 – 7 from 20 overs with runs coming from Max and Cameron who showed good composure and execution with the bat. David’s bowling put the opposition under some early pressure, but unfortunately, we came up just short as The Judd School chased down the total with eight balls to go.
The Under 14As started the season with a real nail biter. In bitterly cold weather, The Judd School batted first and never really got away from some tight Eltham bowling from Ethan, Theo and frank. A few late runs saw Judd make 105-5. Eltham started steadily but lost Ethan and Frank early. At 22-3, the boys looked in trouble, but an excellent partnership between Blue (40 not out) and Oli (40) saw them missing out on victory by just two runs. A superb game! The Under 14B team started their season off with a good win against Judd by 72 runs. Saul top scored with 41 and Chris with 32 as Eltham posted 144 from 20 overs. The Judd School couldn’t cope with our bowling and wickets fell steadily, with Isiah taking three catches, two of which were caught and bowled. All in all, an excellent performance despite the miserable weather.
The Under 13A’s played against a strong Judd side who they had previously lost by ten wickets, so we knew we were up against the odds. Having been put into bat, Eltham lost quick wickets to go to 17 for 3. Matthew and Ollie put up a brief fightback, but once this partnership was broken, there was only resistance from Jacob before the side finished on 81 after their 20 overs. Judd set about the target in ruthless fashion as their openers put on 68 which laid the foundation for a Judd victory by eight wickets. This is the standard that Eltham should be seeking to emulate in future performances.
