Addiscombe u14s beat Purley!

It has been a tough season so far for the U14s. We have played pretty well but facing the A teams on a Friday is hard work especially against so many district and county players. So it was a great lift to get a good win against Purley.

Danny lost the toss and Purley decided to bat on a dry and hard-ish Addington pitch. Aaryan and Aden were on the money with the opening overs - with Aaryan bowling their opener in the first over and then Aden ripping out their top order with some accurate bowling. Aden finished with 3-7 off 3 overs and had bowled excellently. Danny K came on and got a good caught and bowled and Srikar also bowled well. Rikky came on with his leggies and got 2 wickets in his first over, including their best batsman for a golden duck.

Sadly though, Purley could not put out a full team and only had 8 players - so after 7 wickets they were all out for just 41.

When we batted, Sumith looked immediately positive hitting a four first ball of the innings. Mihir also struck a lovely straight 4 later on. But our batting showed the fragility that has cost us this season. Mihir chipped one up and was caught for 6 and Zach was bowled for a duck. Jamie in at four, hooked a cracking boundary first ball but then backed away and was bowled middle stump second ball. Callum also chipped up a catch after playing some good shots. Then Sumith top-edged a full toss to fine leg and was also caught for 10!

Fortunately we had a low total to chase and Rikky and Aaryan saw us home nice and safe to win by 5 wickets. Had we been chasing 70 it could have been interesting!

Well done everyone - it was a good performance and everyone was encouraging in the field and backed up the bowlers well. Especially well played to Aden Latif who bowled superbly and went home with the Man of the Match medal. And thanks to Mihir, Rikky and Aaryan's dads for helping with the scoring.

As we have said all season, the results are not the most important thing. The key thing is the amount of effort and energy we all put in and how we build the team spirit and grow as players and as a team.