Match Report by Stephen Naylor at Queensbury

With our home being taken over, once more, by some of those older juniors and Rob losing the rock, paper, scissors fight for the ground, it was a trip to Queensbury for the U9s Bradford League game against Buttershaw.

And it was sunny. Yes, you read that right.

Queensbury, where last year an U9s fixture was abandoned due to not being able to see one end of the crease from the other.

Queensbury, where Gaz Landin nearly got blown away by a force 10 hurricane leading to perhaps the quickest 32 overs ever achieved in the sport of cricket.

Queensbury, where for 363 days of the year it’s snowing was actually hot and a refreshing breeze made it quite pleasant, even if the Twixs on sale in the Pavilion were that melted you need a spoon to eat them.

And it was a lovely evening – Buttershaw are a lovely club who always play games in the best of spirits and this was no exception. They won the toss and chose to bat first which sent our young cricketers into the field.

The Anderson family are legends of both Buttershaw and Lightcliffe so it was fitting that Bertie (cousin of weekend centurion Jack) opened the bowling and proved that the cricketing genes very much run in the family – from both his parents. His 1-4 from his 2 overs set the tone for a really good performance with the ball.

It is really noticeable how as the season has gone in the numbers in the extras column have reduced and, though there’s always room for improvement, that continued.

There were 2 wickets for Jenson, 1 for Oliver and 1 for Luke and there could have been more had some catches been taken – but on a night when sweaty hands and strong sunlight made that difficult for everyone, even the brilliant attempts were a real credit to our U9s (and a real risk of a broken cheek bone for Bertie).

Fielding was okay – but it still needs work. Sometimes there seemed to be a bit of surprise a cricket ball was rolling past legs and a few minutes (well, it felt like minutes) was taken to realise it needed picking up and throwing in to stop the runs being clocked up between the wickets. But, to be honest, having been at Headingley for England v Scotland in the World Cup on Saturday, I’m not sure some of the fielding there was much better (as Luke may have pointed out quite vocally...) so let's not be too harsh.

79/8 was the final Buttershaw score – a net total of 247.

After a hydration break (I’m old enough to remember when it was called ‘having a drink’) it was back out for the second innings and Bertie opened with the same intent as he opened the bowling. His 12, including three 4s, was the top score but everyone did well – even if there were some runs which were on the ‘omg, what are you doing’ side of risky.

Quality fielding from the away side stopped many a boundary, including some excellent fielding from the sub-fielders we leant Buttershaw (who had 9 players) in the real spirit of cricket. That fielding, some decent bowling and the ‘interesting’ running meant more wickets fell than should have – and that made the game tight.

96 runs were scored for the loss of eight wickets – a net 264 and a win by 17.

Look, it’s easy to overthink U9s cricket and, of course, there’s always room to learn and improve (not least when your own son sends his bat halfway across the field on his first ball – which will teach me not to take away his towel…) but let’s never forget they’re 7, 8 and 9, it had been a baking hot day and they’d been at school for hours. Bessie had even had a sports day. And by all accounts won sports day.

Proud of them all, proud of Rob and Dave for also not wilting in the heat, and thanks as ever for all the support on the sidelines. Thank you also to Queensbury CC for hosting us and being incredibly kind with bottles of water, benches and chairs.