It was Cambourne U13s 4th Game of the season, taking place away at the Thriplow ground in Whittlesford. The weather was warm and sunny as the game began at 6:00 when our captain, Zak, did the toss. We lost the toss and the opposition chose to bat first, leaving us to chase their score.
Our opening bowlers Shivek and Elliot started the bowling strongly, giving away very few runs. A combination of some exceptional deliveries and very solid fielding secure Elliot a maiden in the third over of the game. Shiveks second over was going very well and then one of their batsmen hit a powerful shot towards the leg-side boundary but Freddie ran towards it and got to the ball. Unluckily he didn’t quite catch it as it was a powerful shot and a difficult one to catch, but he was very close and did stop the four or possibly six. Ishaan and Ben came on as the first change bowlers, continuing on keeping the score low. Some super fielding from Willow fielding at fine leg stopped countless shots that were hit behind. Our next bowler Zak came on for Ben and bowled some great spin, keeping the score low and the bowling tight. Our fielding was still staying pretty solid with us stopping many would be fours and twos. But we couldn’t make a breakthrough and get that wicket. Our next bowlers were me and ibby, we managed to keep the score down and finally on Ibbys very first ball of the game we got that wicket thanks to a great delivery. After our four overs Zak came on again and continued bowling well, some excellent bowling from Ethan followed as well as a great over from Freddie. Then their first batsman, who had hit a total of 33 runs, was called to retire. Then Elliot came on again and on the first ball of the over bowled a stunning delivery that knocked the bails off the stumps and got a wicket. Elliot continued his super bowling, however he did not take any more wickets that over. Next up was Willow who bowled a really good over with a good catch from Shivek being our third wicket. Zak and Shivek finished of the bowling nicely with two very solid overs. The overall score was 104.
After the break we came back on with our opening batsmen, Shivek and Alex. It started well with them both getting used to the ground and the pitch of the ball, lots of lovely shots and good running added up and the runs seemed to be coming quickly. Shivek and Alex stayed in for nearly twelve overs and their partnership looked very solid and was going really well until a great delivery from their fastest and county bowler got Shivek out when he had a total of 19 runs off the bat (46 runs overall). Then in came our captain Zak who batted well and looked set to score very highly. But a sneaky slower ball from their county bowler caught Zak unawares and hit the stumps. Next in was Willow who was extremely unlucky as their county bowler secured another wicket on Will’s first ball. Then came Ishaan who was batting really well with Alex until Alex hit one up slightly to high and was caught out after contributing 13 runs towards our score. In came Elliot who also got pretty unlucky as their bowler bowled him on the third ball he faced. Next in came ibby who had a good partnership with Ishaan and ran and batted well. But with three overs remaining and 24 needed for a win it was going to be tough. Ibby was bowled with two overs to come and 16 needed for a win, with Ishaan batting exceptionally it was going to be very close! On came Freddie, he and Ishaan got us down to needing only ten of the last over. But they had put their best bowler on for the last over and Freddie got unlucky and was bowled with five balls to come. On came Ben, he and Ishaan needed 10 to win off 5 balls. Some great shots and running took us down to needing only 6 off 3 balls to win. Then 6 off two. Then six off one, Ben went for the slog with one ball to go to get that six, but the ball bounced under the bat and past the wicket keeper. Ishaan and Ben ended up running two to get the score to 101, just three runs below them.
Overall it was a great game and everyone played very well.

*Well done!*

By Alex Sherwood