Burgess Hill U11 260-4 lost to Poynings U11 274-5 by 14 runs.
Despite a notable improvement on last week, the lads fell just short in a close game with Poynings at St Johns Park.
The visitors won the toss and put us into bat. As last week, we opened with Toby Spooner and Tom Broughton and once again they gave us a terrific start. Toby dominated the strike and scored 17 from the bat and the pair put on 25 for the first 4 overs. Sadly we rather lost momentum for a period after this and despite one lusty blow for 4, from Lewis McIntyre (6 from the bat) we lost a couple of wickets, meaning the next 8 overs only brought us just 12 runs net.
Henry Cobham and Ewan Edwards put on a slowly more productive partnership and were unfortunate to find fielders with good shots, however they set up a good platform for the final pair. Sadly a couple of wickets stemmed that flow and although Conor Ward struck 10 from the bat from the few balls he faced, we just couldn’t lift the total to a threatening total and ended 260. Something to bowl at, at least.
We got off to an outstanding start. Toby and Tom again were accurate in line and length, and took 3 early wickets for not a lot. Toby finished with 2-3 from 3 overs which was remarkable, and Tom took 1-10 from his 2 overs. Benji Turner and Ollie Baker bowled accurately without luck, and Lewis (1-7) and Aaron Goldsmith also did well. We were keeping Poynings in check, albeit not chipping away at their wickets, and Ewan bowled extremely well without success.
As the overs progressed, some excellent batting from the visitors began to take hold, and we just couldn’t take the necessary wickets. Their number 10 smacked three excellent boundaries and despite a late Louis Harcourt wicket, they found their way home to a 14 run win.
An improved performance from last week, and more secure in batting. There were some good shots and balls which went unrewarded, and the fielding was again good. Small margins of improvement in all areas will bring the wins.