Another terrific performance from this young team was not quite enough to bring home the victory for the Albion Park Under 13’s team in their match against Lake Illawarra.
The Lake team batted first, and with importance of dropped catches from last week still in their minds the young Eagles had to ensure that they held every opportunity. Unfortunately it was not to be, and although they weren’t all easy they gave each of the better batsmen the opportunity to continue when they should have been back on the sidelines. Along with some misfields it gave the Lake team more runs than they should have, and is something to be worked on over the coming weeks if this team wants to improve and compete with the better teams.
As it stood, Lake Illawarra got away to a final total of 4/140 from their 30 overs. Two early wickets had the Park boys in a good position. Kane Rex opened up and bowled an excellent, keeping the ball full and straight and making the batsmen play every ball. He bowled a maiden to start with, and though he went fro a boundary with the first ball of his second over he then drew a top edge which was taken well by wicket-keeper Owen Pickering for the first wicket. Kane finished with 1/11 from 3 overs. Kasey Barton was firing the ball in at the batsmen, and drew their respect in looking to see him off. Neither batsmen looked comfortable. He finished with 0/14 from his 3 overs. Tom Denyer again bowled well and at good pace as well, and he forced a false shot from the other opening batsmen to be well caught by Jack Couley to have Lake at 2/30. Tom finished with figures of 1/14 from 3 overs. Rob Denny bowled well again without hitting the heights of the first round, his little shuffle in his run up perhaps hindering him. The batsmen still found him difficult to get away ad were beaten well on a couple of occasions. Rob took 0/10 from his three overs, a good economical return.
The tough Lake middle order did their best work here, with some help from a couple of chances going down. Once they had retired the Park kids were able to tighten the screws so that the score didn’t blow out to something extravagant.
I know I’m biased about Josh’s cricket, so if I just say he bowled the greatest spell of leg spin bowling ever by a ten year old that should suffice. He troubled all the batsmen and picked up a wicket which was well caught by Tom Denyer at mid wicket, and finished with 1/11 from 4 overs. Lucas Brown tried hard again, and just needs to be hypnotised into believing he is bowling in the nets, where he is unplayable. He finished with 0/23 from 4 overs. Jack Couley bowled two good overs for just three runs before taking the keeping gloves for the second half of the innings where he did a good job once again. Liam Cergovski was not well and in fact had to come off for the remainder of the game due to illness having bowled one over. Owen Pickering ripped in for three overs following his excellent keeping session, and was unfortunate to go for a couple of boundaries, but bowled a killer bouncer in Brett Lee fashion to the amusement of all but the batsman. He finished with 0/22 from his three overs. Kynan Barton bowled the second excellent spell of spin bowling for the day, keeping the batsmen tied down and eventually drawing the false shot which was taken by Owen at mid on. Kynan finished with excellent figures of 1/13 from four overs.
After some stirring words from coach Anthony Pickering, the Eagles bats headed out to try and chase down the formidable total. The Lake bowling was immediately excellent, everything that could be asked of young kids. They bowled full and straight, and asked questions of all of the batsmen. It paid dividends early, as first Kynan Barton received and excellent delivery to be bowled for 2, and then Jack Couley was also upended for 4. Rob Denny was also unfortunate to be caught out for a duck. It was a tough start with the Eagles at 3/16.
A great partnership then took place between Owen Pickering and Kasey Barton. Owen was just terrific. He hit the ball hard and generally along the ground, with the strong wrists and forearms bred from his hockey background. But he also showed poise and a good defence when needed, and chose his run-making deliveries wisely. He entertained the spectators and kept his team in the match. Alongside him Kasey played his usual determined innings, happy to work the ball through both sides of the wickets into the gaps and running hard between the wickets. He is a good model for these kids in he keeps the ball on the ground and doesn’t have to slog to make his runs. Both batsmen retired not out having faced their 35 balls and had made good roads into the recovery.
After the drinks break two quick wickets put that in jeopardy. The Peters/Brown running between the wickets chaos from last season continued, this time Josh leaving Lucas stone dead in calling him through for a run and then both almost standing beside each other in the middle of the wicket when the stumps were thrown down, this time Lucas being the unlucky one to be called out for just 2. Kane Rex then showed good purpose in getting bat to ball in defence, before unfortunately popping a catch up in close to be dismissed for a duck. This left the score at 5/72 and final batsman Tom Denyer joined Josh at the crease. From here another good partnership brought the Eagles crowd alive and left the Lake crowd in stunned silence. While Josh nicked and nudged the ball around, Tom looked to destroy from the outset. The pressure on the fielders meant there were some misfields that the batsmen took advantage of. Tom’s only problem came from swinging too hard sometimes and missing some opportunities for runs, while Josh occasionally forgot to call when he was running.
Still, it was an exciting finish. When Josh retired for 15 not out and the star Owen returned to the crease, the Eagles needed 19 from two overs and was a real chance. Owen sacrificed his wicket in the team cause running for a suicidal second and was dismissed for 35, a fantastic innings. Kasey returned for the final throes, but against Lake’s best bowlers could quite cut down the deficit. Kasey remined 12 not out and Tom and excellent 21 not out, and Park finished their 30 overs at 6/131, nine runs short.
The boys should be proud of their effort, and both sides got a great round of applause for a terrific game of cricket. With improvement in catching and fielding, the result could certainly have been different. With a big clash against Oak Flats next weekend, the boys will need to be at their best to help keep their improvement moving towards results on the field
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