U13s do it the hard way

What a game we had at Stratfield Brake last night! Needing to win to stay in contention for the finals day KCC got off to the worst possible start. Captain Jacob Oliver won the toss and chose to bat first on a good wicket but he would not have been expecting be at the wicket in the first over as we lost two wickets without scoring. With both Ned Pratt and Sam Kimber out to excellent bowling it was down to Jacob and Joshua Behal to rebuild the innings and they responded brilliantly. They ran well and accumulated valuable singles against good bowling and after seeing off the openers they led the counter attack with some brave shots. The partnership was broken with Josh unlucky to be stumped but not before they had added 50 runs. Ben Sternberg (22n.o.) came to the wicket and continued his good form with a patient innings which proved vital. Jacob continued to score quickly and reached 31 not out in the 11 over with his fourth boundary. KCC lost a bit of momentum with a couple of wickets going down but Matthew Suckling (9n.o.) steadied things in a really good partnership with Ben and both were not out as KCC finished strongly on 103/5 off 20 overs.
In reply Cropredy started slowly and lost wickets regularly as KCC bowlers dominated. Jacob Oliver (4-1-10-2) bowled superbly picking up 2 wickets. Aman Kalyan (4-1-18-1) should have had more than his one wicket as he regularly beat the bat in his early overs. Josh Behal picked two wickets and there were wickets too for Marcus Hewitt, Sam Fransham and Sam Kimber in an really good all round performance in the field. However, just when we thought this game was done and dusted there was a real twist. After 15 overs Cropredy were 30/7 and not threating at all. What we didn't realise was that Cropredy had reversed the batting order and in came their county batsmen to launch an assault on our back up bowlers and very nearly steal the match. With 20 need of the last over they hit 11 off the first four balls before their last wicket fell.
A great finish to a crazy game, well done to everyone and thanks to Sam Fransham who came up from the under 11s and gave a really good performance. Thanks to Oscar for umpiring and Andy Oliver for helping set up.