Tough game for injury-hit u13s

The under 13s headed out on a sunny evening knowing that it was going to be a tough ask with just 8 players due to a combination of injuries and other commitments. With 20 overs to bat out, the main thing was not losing early wickets. Unfortunately things started to look tricky when the usually reliable Tom Lord spooned the second ball straight back into the bowler Wyatt's hands. Max Earp (13) was looking really good hitting some great shots off his legs and scored fast, but he followed shortly after, bowled by Matthews. Marko Babic and Daniel Hunt similarly looked good for a while, both hitting boundaries, but again were both bowled by straight ones. A classic mid-order collapse ensued, with Dylan Dyer, Malek Hussain and Sam Fransham all falling by hitting across straight balls, leaving Ed Symes stranded as the only remaining batsman. Bicester were very sporting however and let the out batsmen come back in to make up 11 players, Dylan Dyer offering some improved defence before being bowled by Elliot. Tom Lord (16, the second time round!) and Ed Symes then put on some runs before Tom got run out. Sam Fransham came in for the last ball at the non-striker's end and ran two with Ed, who finished as the only Kidlington batsman not out on 14. Ed looked very good indeed for his innings, he didn't look like getting out at all.

70 runs was going to be a very difficult score to defend, especially with only 8 in the field. And so it proved to be, not least because Bicester have themselves some very handy batsmen. Sam Fransham, fresh from taking four wickets at Oxford last week, came steaming in but Bicester's openers took a liking to the fast bowling and hit 14 off his first over. Ed Symes looked very good at the other end too, but was not able to take wickets and went for a few boundaries too. Things became even trickier when Sam injured himself twice when fielding, the second time having to leave the field permanently after bowling just two overs. Bicester sportingly provided a fielder to help us out now we were down to seven in the field. With some big hitting and large gaps in the field, Bicester overtook our total in seven overs, but we played 14 overs to give everyone a game. There were some bright spots in our bowling performance - Daniel Hunt, Marko Babic and Malek Hussain bowled out a batter each. Marko bagged a brilliant run out with only one stump to aim at.

A difficult fixture for us tonight, but played in good spirit and everyone enjoyed their evening out in the sun. Many thanks to Bicester for being so sporting about our lack of players and allowing people to come and bat a second time. Hopefully next time we will have a fuller team and be able to give them a better game.

Many thanks also to Nick Babic and Simon Hunt for scoring, and to Heidi Hunt for sorting out the refreshments.