U11 V Loretto

With the cancellation of the Glenalmond 6-a-side tournament the previous Sunday, the trip across to the Loretto newfields was greatly anticipated. We piled into the bus with high hopes and expectations of a successful first match and season. However, as if often the case regarding cricket, things do not always go your way.

Meynell lost the toss first up and we were put into bat on what looked like quite a good fast track with a very big out-field. Watson and Stodart opened up the teams run scoring account in good style throughout the first few overs before Watson chipped a wide one to point. Captain Meynell was next to the crease only to be dismissed by a good out swinging delivery on his very first ball! Watson and Stodart tried their best to steady the ship, with Watson hitting some glorious shots down the leg-side.

The Watson-Stodart stand came to an end when Stodart tried to pull a ball on to the leg-side that pitched on off-stump! The batting went down hill from this point with only a few good stands in the middle. Donaldson, Walker munro and Barlow all had good stands with the bat but none managed to score the runs they were capable of.

A slow 20 overs of batting mixed with some good fielding meant that Belhaven ended with a poor score of 52. Although the score was not what we aimed for, we still felt that the game was there to win.

We decided that pace was the way to go, with the big boundaries and over-cast conditions the ball was swinging and hitting 4s and 6s was proving to be a difficult feat. The fielding and bowling was pretty much the opposite of the batting! The boys were throwing themselves around after the ball, and you really felt the game the match could be won.

Watson and meynell bowled well but were not able to make any in-roads to the batting line. On comes Stodart, who bowled great lines with Donaldson at the other end, the pressure resulting in a run out. A fine direct hit from Watson from point. The spirits were lifted and some top draw fielding came out from Bailey, de Klee and Harley who all made diving stops.

Stodart stayed on and took 2 more wickets, with a fine catch at short cover from Barlow and another from Watson. The game looked as if it was ours for the taking if we could just get one wicket. The chance came and was put down. (some fielding work to be done!) With some loose bowling (would have been a lot more if it had not been for the fine wicket keeping from Benson behind the stumps) and a few dropped catches game was gone.

For the first game I felt the boys showed real potential and good spirit even when things were not going their way. We now focus on our next match where we will host craigclowan and look to be back to our best!

Result: match lost by 7 wickets

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