First Win of the Season for U11 Yellows

Match report: Harry Seekings

First Win of the Season for U11 Yellows

OCC’s U11 Yellows team took on Tiddington (away) in glorious sunshine, serenaded by an adjacent field of boisterous bovines and cheered on by a healthy crowd of parents from both sides. A big thank you to Sam who turned up with Josh to provide support for the novice coach and options in case we were short of a player.

OCC lost the toss and found themselves batting - a good thing as the dew-soaked outfield quickly made the ball wet.

Wali and Adhil got the innings off to a solid start, scoring 12 and 7 respectively. Nancy and Hubert made some excellent calls to squeeze runs that barely seemed likely when the ball went through to the wicketkeeper, however their momentum was checked by three wickets, two of which came off one of Tiddington’s most consistently accurate bowlers. Leo and Xavier then came to the wicket and the scoreboard ticked along, with 27 added. Leo in particular looked in good form and - having settled after attempting some flamboyant heaves - plundered consecutive boundaries to fine leg as part of his top scoring innings. Arthur and Caspian wrapped things up with another 17 runs. Once again aggressive running squeezed vital runs with singles becoming 2s and runs being scored off mis-fields.

The innings total of 267 was very respectable and gave OCC a great target to bowl at. The loss of three wickets across the 16 overs spoke to a good performance with the bat that all players could be proud of. At the changeover Wali volunteered to keep wicket for the first time and received a round of applause from his team-mates.

Caspian and Arthur opened the bowling and kept things reasonably tight, however the overs also served as a warning of what was to come with some over-exuberant fielding leading to overthrows (one particular zinger evading bowler and backup fielder to go for 4 runs). After four overs Tiddington had scored 24 and looked in the hunt. Then came an over of carnage from Leo. After a loosener, the over saw a wicket; another wicket narrowly saved by the inside of the batter’s thigh (a nasty blow but, after a break in play, the batter bravely resumed); and the wicketkeeper poleaxed by a ball that seamed towards the batter and bounced over the stumps at pace.

With the wicketkeeper still standing fairly close (though now adorned with a helmet) the next three overs from Xavier and Leo (a further wicket) continued to firmly move momentum Oxford’s way as the score stagnated. The next bowlers, Nancy and Hubert, continued for the most part to bowl tight lines and the batters struggled to score other than singles and wides. Closing out the bowling were Adil and then Nancy and Arthur each bowling an additional over while Wali continued to do a superb job behind the stumps. Tiddington did show some signs of life but tight bowling from all three bowlers kept the last pair at arms-length; and any hope was extinguished in the final over when Arthur took a fine wicket and the OCC team secured the run-out that had been threatened all innings.

Very well done to the team for a great performance. And a shout-out to Tiddington (Paddy and Neil) for being gracious and welcoming hosts.