Plenty of runs for the under 13s!

This was a brilliant performance by the under 13s, that on another day would have brought home a victory for the team. Our players posted a competitive total with the bat and showed some great intensity and focus in the field. This time we were up against some quality batters who had a good innings, but another time this would have been Kidlington's day.

Kidlington won the toss and chose to bat first in the evening sunshine. Joshua Behal and Elijah Clarke opened the batting, giving Kidlington a solid start against Banbury's opening bowlers Jonny White and Charlie Cranley. By the fourth over Kidlington were 10 without loss. Despite losing Elijah (1) in the fifth over, Toby Earp (4) supported Josh to accelerate, Josh hitting several fine-looking fours. Kidlington reached 37 for 1 by the ninth over. Josh retired on 30 not out shortly after. After Banbury's Hazelgrove bowled Toby, Ben Dyble took a couple of quick wickets of Max Earp and Marcus Hewitt. Jacob Evans (11) came in at seven and had a fantastic innings, hitting two lovely swept pull shots for four down leg side. He was supported by Neil Talmaki (4), Tom Rochford, Sam Fransham, William Keates (4) and Daniel Hunt, who all fell victim to Banbury's excellent bowling - but not before Will had cracked a splendid pull shot for four in the penultimate over. After Daniel Hunt fell to Hazlegrove, Josh came back in to bat, hitting two more runs before running out Jacob pushing for a quick single with two balls of the innings left. Kidlington ended on 82 all out, a fine performance against a strong bowling unit.

Banbury sent in their openers Evan Hindel and Charlie Cranley to reply, with Sam Fransham and Toby Earp opening the bowling for Kidlington. Banbury's batters proved to be very strong and had a good day. Sam removed Cranley for 13 by clean bowling him and Toby bowled an excellent spell that was unlucky to go unrewarded. They were supported by Josh, Elijah, Neil and Marcus. Despite some strong fielding and an excellent performance from Max Earp behind the stumps (only 7 byes), Banbury knocked off the total within 12 overs, hitting 11 fours along the way. Charlie Hazlegrove retired on 31, and Evan Hindel (28) saw Banbury to their total supported by Luke Thomas (0*).

Our under 13s should be proud of this performance - we scored twice as many runs as we did against Banbury last month, which just shows how much we have come on as a team. The team spirit and focus was excellent, some great all round batting performances and disciplined fielding. Well done to everyone.

The retiring batters - Josh Behal for Kidlington and Charlie Hazlegrove for Banbury - were named the players of the match for their brilliant innings.

Many thanks to all our parents for coming along and supporting the team, with special thanks to Michael Behal for umpiring. Next 11-a-side game is against Cropredy at home on Thursday 21 June - let's see if we can hit some runs off Joe Coggins this time!