Banbury too good for KCC under 13s

A heavy defeat for KCC under 13s this week. Thanks to Paul Hewitt who covered the match as team manager in my absence. As I wasn't there, Sam Fransham has offered a player's view of the match:

"Kidlington started off very well taking two early wickets from Sam Fransham and Matthew Wyatt. However, we got too complacent and due to some lazy fielding, Banbury quickly scored twenty four runs after six overs. Banbury’s batting was very good – they did a lot of running between the wickets for ones and twos – and our bowlers did a good job but Banbury’s batters were up to the task. Our fielding was a bit sloppy and we let a lot of singles away. Banbury finished on a strong 136.

When we batted the first wicket to fall was Josh Behal, getting out to an excellent catch. Josh hit the ball hard on the leg side and was taken terrifically. After that there was a landslide of wickets falling with Max, Aaryan, Neil and Daniel getting out in quick succession. Marko batted out the overs but unfortunately got out hitting his wicket for 2. We had a final stand of Jacob and Marcus, Jacob doing superbly with 13 not out, and Marcus with 2 not out. We finished with a disappointing total of 41.

On the whole, we bowled very well but came up against a very strong team."

Banbury are well known as one of the top sides in the county, and sometimes you just have to recognise when you come up against a strong team. Nevertheless there are things to learn from this performance - during training, the team pointed out Banbury's quick running between the wickets, loud encouragement to each other whilst fielding and technical fielding performance as things that KCC could learn to do. And special mention should be made of Jacob Evans' 13 not out, the bright spot in our batting.

Thanks to parents and grandparents for transport and support, and to Michael Behal for umpiring.