Telling Tails — U11 vs Burbage
Monday evenings are usually filled with life admin, laundry, and other dull things.
But this Monday was different. With the exciting prospect of an away fixture for the Ramsbury Colts against Burbage, life admin and laundry was left to take care of itself for once.
The Colts arrived in high spirits, bustling with enthusiasm in the nets, and keen to take advantage of the fine conditions and beautiful setting of the Burbage Oval.
Jack took the skipper’s arm band, won the toss, and opted to field first.
Eli took the new ball first up and struck early to remove a Burbage opener with the score still in single figures.
Jack took the next over and made an immediate impact, taking a wicket with his second ball and another two at the end of the over to put himself on a hat-trick.
The hat-trick wasn’t to be, but he finished off his spell with fine figures and handed the momentum to The Ramsbury Colts in no uncertain terms.
What followed was a fine display of tight bowling. Maggie and Heston kept the batters from taking control of the situation, and whilst the scoreboard ticked along at 4 runs an over there was no real sign of acceleration, and boudaries were hard to come by as The Colts put last Friday’s fielding masterclass with the legendary Peter Osmond to good effect.
Clarke, Henry and Fin created several chances but nothing seemed to land in quite the right spot. Run out chances came and went, with a few near misses, some great shying at the stumps and several direct hits that tested the eyesight of the on field umpires.
Hugo bowled two convincing overs that kept the batters firmly in defensive mode before Serhii took the ball in the 14th over and proceeded to run rings around the Burbage middle order. Producing two stone cold dead LBWs (in a game where that form of dismissal was sadly not on offer) then missing the off stump by nanometers, it is nothing short of a miracle that Umpire Worden wasn’t forced to raise the crooked finger of dismissal by the end of the spell. A moral victory, and glimpse of a bright future for spin bowling at Ramsbury, but sadly no further wickets.
George bamboozled the opposition with variations in flighting and some unexpected changes of pace, before handing the ball to Eli and then Jack. The opening pair brought a tidy conclusion to the innings, taking one further wicket and restricting the Burbage total to under 100.
With The Colts needing 98 to win, Henry and Heston strode confidently to the middle. The conditions for an evening run chase were perfect, but the Burbage bowling attack immediately began causing problems. A combination of straight bowling and crafty field placements soon did for for both openers..
The pressure began to mount, and every ball looked like a wicket ball until left-hander Cass walked to the crease and restored calm and order to the situation, hitting a series of fine boundaries to push The Colts up to 30 for 3 after just four overs.
Fin, Jack, Clarke and George added runs to the total but things were all starting to look a bit tricky after the drinks break as the run rate dropped below 3 an over and scoreboard pressure began to mount.
That was until Maggie came to the crease, flat-batting her first ball from one of the Burbage quicks over extra cover for a one bounce four, and producing some elemental shots to turn the odds in Ramsbury’s favour.
Maggie eventually fell to a sharp catch, shortly after executing a textbook pull shot, dispatching another Burgbage quick for four runs in what proved to be a pivotal innings in the context of the match.
Serhii and Hugo formed a strong partnership that solidified the innings and set up a potential win.
The Burbage skip continued to noodle with field placements before almost every ball, and at one point it looked as though the game might be pushed into a second day.
Henry returned to the crease to pick off more runs before it eventually came down to Eli and Fin needing to pick off a few runs in the final over. Sharp running between the wickets brought the scores level, and an audacious quick single from Fin sealed the win.
Another fine team performance from The Ramsbury Colts: strong, enthusiastic bowling, commitment in the field, and dogged determination with the bat despite an early tumble of wickets.
Sealing a smash and grab win at Burbage just 6 weeks after being resoundingly beaten by the same opposition is testament to how far this young team has come this summer. If they keep developing at this pace, who knows which other scalps they might claim before the end of the season…
[Huge thanks to Ben for the write up!]