Another great evening for our U11s, helped once again by glorious sunshine and some equally bright cricket. With the summer continuing to deliver, our players did too — putting in a strong all-round performance against Cleckheaton.

First challenge of the evening? Identifying which Ollie was which. With three in the side, it felt less like a cricket team and more like a riddle.

Max took on captaincy duties and handled them well, agreeing to bowl first after the opposition had a few late arrivals. He opened the bowling with Charlie, and the pair delivered two tight opening overs that kept Cleckheaton’s openers pinned down. Both were extremely unlucky not to take a wicket, but set the tone for a disciplined display in the field.

Our bowlers continued in that same vein:

• Ollie Rose gave away just 8 runs from his 3 overs — calm, consistent, and very tidy. Growing in confidence
• Ollie Wood (Woody) bowled with pace well beyond his 9 years, enough to trouble batters in any junior age groups, picking up a sharp caught-and-bowled and causing problems for the batters throughout.
• Ollie Webb (Webby) was just as effective, conceding only 4 runs from his 2 overs before swapping his bowling boots for wicketkeeping gloves and doing a cracking job behind the stumps.
• Nico bowled a great line and length, keeping things tight and composed.
• Jonty, another youngster at just 9 years old brought his trademark in-swingers into play, keeping the pressure on with another reliable spell and well deserved wicket.
• Jim was my pick of the bunch this week — 3 overs, 2 wickets, 12 runs. A really solid all-round performance that’s clearly building his confidence game by game.

Chasing a net score of 252, the boys knew they had a good chance — and batted with that belief.

Nico and Ollie Rose opened with intent, scoring 17 and 23 respectively, each hitting four boundaries. They set the tone early with some powerful shots and good running. Both excellent.

Next in were Woody and Jonty, who kept the momentum going. Woody struck a few more excellent boundaries, while Jonty played a lovely cover drive for four that drew some admiration from the boundary. Again the pairs running between the wickets and backing each other up was exceptional.

Webby and Jim faced some of the opposition’s best bowling but stayed composed, putting on useful runs and keeping the scoreboard ticking.

Finally, Max and Charlie came in to see things through. A quick reminder from the coach to “not do anything daft” was heeded, and both played with real maturity — rotating the strike well again running between the wickets and punishing the bad balls to finish with 14 runs each and secure a well-deserved win by 55 runs.

The fielding was another real positive — sharp overall, with good energy and backing up throughout the innings. A couple of minor lapses, but nothing that took away from a really strong team effort.

Plenty of good cricket, lots of encouraging signs, and a team that’s clearly enjoying its cricket — even if no one’s quite sure which Ollie is which!

Match Report by Neil Wood