U15 NSW Youth Championship Weblin Shield, Fairfield Oval, 15th October 2023
As all us boys arrived to the ground, we were pumped for another rep game in the new season. It was a great day for cricket in some hot weather. We did our stretches and had a game of touch footy leading up to our warm up drills. Lachie then went to do the toss but lost so we were sent out to field. Oscar and Lachie opened with some spectacular overs and put pressure on the batsmen. In Lachie’s first over he picked up an early wicket with Aidan K taking the catch. A few overs went by and the batsman started making a little partnership until Oscar steamed in and grabbed his first wicket with Will taking an absolute screamer of a catch – one handed in the 7th over. Great catch Will! Oscar then picked up another wicket taking out the batsman with an LBW in the 9th over. Next wicket was taken by Stew who bowled a peach, bowling it around the batsman’s legs and taking out the leg stump in the 23rd over. Then the batsmen started building a partnership and we couldn’t break it until finally Oscar in the 39th over broke that partnership and ran out the batsman. Well bowled and fielded Oscar! In the 46th over Lachie was on point as the batter went for a drop and run but Lachie’s throw was just too fast for the batters to run and Will took off the bails. Great fielding boys! In the same over Freddie was bowling perfectly to his field as the batter tried to hit Freddie but hit it straight down Aidan B’s throat. Great catch Bolts! From there Fairfield got a few singles and some boundaries to finish up on 7-204.
The boys had lunch and then were straight into getting throws.
Aidan K and Paddy were fired up and ready. Aidan K faced the first ball getting the second innings under way. He scored 12 from the first over, giving us a great start. The openers were building a great partnership. Aiden K and Paddy took us all the way to drinks – none down for 70 odd. The boys had a quick drink and went straight back out there. In the 18th over, Paddy got caught but had a great innings with a very great partnership with Aidan K. Then in the 21st over, Aidan K got caught but had a great innings ending up on 51. Well batted AK! Lachie then came out to bat but got stumped in the same over. Then in the 23rd over Stew got bowled but he came off saying it was a jaffer (which it was) spinning from leg stump to top of off. A few overs went by and Aidan B and Will started making a good partnership but then in the 29th over Will got caught. More overs went by as Miles and Aidan B started building a great partnership as all of us boys cheered them on. Then in the 38th over Miles was dismissed for 21 runs by being bowled. Harry then came out to bat and hit a 4 first ball and was feeling confident but then mis-timed one and got cleaned up. In the 39th over Oscar was dismissed with LBW. Freddie then came out and hit a cracking four of his second ball. Aidan B and Freddie were doing their best to try to reach 205 but in the 43rd over Aidan B got caught. He was only 2 runs away from scoring 50. A great innings Bolts!! Lucas was next in to bat but he only faced one ball as in the 44th over, Freddie got bowled. So unfortunately Manly came up short by 31 runs, finishing on a total of 173.
Thank you to Matt and Digs for putting their time and commitment into the team, thank you to Nathan and Craig H for scoring, thank you to the umpires for umpiring all day, and thank you to all the parents for always driving us to training and games.
By Harry