Having finished our league season last night, we moved back to the HCL Cup (100 format) and a Quarter Final against Burghill. A combination of experienced U15 players and talented U13s to bolster the ranks meant we went in with confidence, but Burghill also have some talented players and in the 100 format it can be hard to predict.

Ethan lost the toss and we were asked to bowl first on a dry pitch. Ethan and Dom opened the bowling and started well, both bowling good lines and taking a wicket apiece as Burghill moved to 30-2 off the first 30 balls. Charlie came on first change and also bagged a wicket, with Burghill progressing to 51-3 off 50 balls. Tommy, Ewan, Gauranga and Will Beaumont all bowled well but without success as Burghill kept their score ticking along, reaching 74-3 off 70 balls. Fin bowled a single over for 6 runs and then Avi and Callum finished things off, both doing well to take a wicket each as Burghill finished their innings on 112-5 off 100 balls. We had bowled well but unfortunately the fielding standards had slipped a bit – a couple of dropped catches and a number of misfields meant they were probably 20 runs ahead of where they should have been. In the failing light and on a bowler-friendly wicket, chasing 113 to win off 100 balls would not be easy.

Ethan opened up with Tommy and they started at their usual fast pace, quickly progressing to 20-0 off the first 10 balls. However, a good spinner came on and tied things up a bit, grabbing the wickets of both Ethan and Tommy to leave us 29-2 off 20. Ewan and Will B came to the crease, but any hope of them re-creating their heroics from the Colwall match last night were quickly quashed as Ewan ran out Will. Dom quickly came and went and we were 51-4 off 30 balls - well ahead of the run rate, but with a weakened batting lineup on a pitch with inconsistent bounce and rapidly reducing light, things were very much in the balance. Gauranga joined proceedings, stepping up from the U13s, and helped to calm things down. He batted well with Ewan, keeping the score ticking along but not taking unnecessary risks. We moved to 62-4 off 40 balls, 77-4 off 60 balls and 102 off 80 balls as the partnership added a vital 56 before Ewan was run out in the 17th over. Rufus also quickly came and went in the darkness to leave us on 103-6 and make it a bit more of a nervous ending that it was looking like 5 minutes earlier. But another of our U13 stars Avi came out to join Gauranga, and they both showed a calmness and composure beyond their years as they saw us comfortably over the line to win by 4 wickets with 8 balls to spare. Gauranga finished with an excellent 29 not out.

So we march on to the finals weekend on Bank Holiday Monday, with a chance to go for an unprecedented league and cup double.

Thanks again to Richard Fisher for scoring, and to the parents who helped to clear up after.
Lee