BACKReport by Anon
Finally the U17s made it out on to the pitch, there were moments when this hadn't looked likely as fixtures were re-organised as clubs attempted to find out when enough of their players weren't working and available. However, the wait proved to be worthwhile as a fine performance saw a comprehensive win by 94 runs over what was a much younger Falkland side.
Following in the tradition of the midweek senior side captain Chris Lemm elected to bat first on what looked a very good batting surface as the pitch had dried out after the weekend rain. Early positive stroke play by Withington got the innings off to a quick start, Falkland deciding to test his pull shot which was found to be working very well on three occasions. At the other end "Stodger" Moore was laying anchor to let the stroke players play round him.
Following the dismissal of Withington for 24 the captain came out to bat and played with a mixture of good fortune and even more good fortune on his way to a typically aggressive 35. "Stodger" Moore ploughed on until finally being out when he reckoned there wasn't enough time left for anyone to beat his top score of 37. Good aggressive batting and running between the wickets from Stuart Pendleton and Osman Mahmood at the end (a partnership of 36 in 19 balls) saw the score up to 144.
In response the opening bowling from Chris Lemm and Osman Mahmood proved too much for the Falkland top order and after they had both bowled out their four overs the score was 10-4. The situation could have been even worse but for the fact that the captain had obviously upset some of his team as they refused to take the simple catches off his bowling that were offered. David Hampton was the exception and must now be confident of a move up the batting order in the next game.
With runs on the board, the top order out the way and a large leg side boundary the time was ripe for Withington to practice his leg spin bowling, instead he opted for some straight up and down medium pace. Containment instead of attack learnt through years of watching English cricket. Ahmed followed Mahmood from the Englefield Road End and managed to provide enough variation to take three wickets. The pick of the Falkland batsman was M Russel who played well for his 16 before being last out.
This was an encouraging start to the season and hopefully a team that includes within it some talented players will have the chance to play enough games to see how good they are.