Busy Week for U13s

4 games in 8 days for the U13s - it's been a busy week. I'm very tired after 209 overs of umpiring and organisation so I'm sure many of the boys are too but pleased we've been able to get so much cricket in given the poor weather of early season.

Started with a bad day at the office at home v Burbage but then a cracking cup quarter final win in the last over gloom at the County Ground v Chippenham. 

A Friday night friendly at Wootton Bassett for 12 of the boys who haven't played too much cricket so far this year gave me a glimpse of their development - we may have come second but there were several good performances.

Then a tense chase at Corsham yesterday which went right down to the last ball and a very late finish thanks to rain mid innings. Our boys were always in the hunt but never quite up with the asking rate but they did cling on last man standing for the draw.

Loads to work on for the remainder of the season (especially in the field) but a semi final to look forward to as well.

Thanks for your efforts keep improving lads.

Cheers

Rob

Swindon U13s help North East District to 2nd place in inter-county District competition

Congratulations to Aiden Bramwell, James Davis, Will Fletcher, Liam Hartley, Charlie Main, Will Peden and Tom Pitman for their who all represented Swindon in the North East District matches at Salisbury on Monday 5th May.

All of our boys were either among the wickets or among the runs (or both) during the day contributing largely to a successful day for their team.

North East won 2 of their 4 matches to finish 2nd of the 5 Wiltshire Districts on the day.

I know we've had a couple of other lads selected for the District squad this year as well so Swindon lads will once again be representing our area hopefully with distinction through the 2014 season.

Well done lads

Rob

Under 13s start the season with a win

 

Great win to start the season off with a bang for our boys today. Loads of things to work on but some real plus points as well.

 

Now that I've seen them in a game situation, I was delighted that we could give all on show a bowl today. They bowled some good lines and lengths and if we can work on their consistency and improve our fielding then we'll do OK in the field this season. Special mention of course today goes to Harmandeep with 4-11 but I was pleased with all of the bowlers sticking to their task. James and Jodh both chipped in with a couple of wickets and Aiden with a wicket and a run out ensured we restricted Chippenham to a gettable 109 all out.

 

Believe me it was tricky for batsmen on that wicket. The pitch was slow and low with a lot of movement so scoring runs was a challenge. By bowling Chippenham out early we had 4 extra overs to get the runs so I asked the boys to dig in, play safely rather than aggressively so they all got a feel for the conditions and see where we were at drinks to have a proper go for the total. Remember many of them are new to 35 over cricket and it's a different challenge to what they are used to.

 

Things looked pretty tricky early on when we had lost Will, Joseph and James with only 17 on the board. Aiden hung around for a while with Tom to keep him company but when Aiden fell with the score on 46 we looked in a bit of trouble. But huge credit goes to Tom who scored a fluent 42 and rarely looked in trouble, to Adam who with a little license hit some lovely shots for 25* and to Liam (9*) who dropped anchor to make sure we didn't lose wickets to put on a partnership of 33 with Tom and an unbroken 32 with Adam at the end.

 

All in all a very good days work for the boys who can take a lot of credit for their efforts today.

 

Many thanks to those who helped me and Fiona out today (special mention to Mark for leaving me such a tidy scorebook - thank you).   

 

Best of luck to all of the boys involved in the District competition at South Wilts tomorrow - please all come to training on Tuesday with lots more tales of runs scored and wickets taken.

 

See everyone on Tuesday (weather permitting - forecast isn't too great but hopefully we'll be able to dodge the showers, please assume training is on unless I let you know otherwise).

 

Speak soon.

 

Rob 

Under 13s Team Selected for Sunday 4th May

Sadly the elements were against us again this evening but I've sent an email confirming the team for this Sunday's match at home to Chippenham. All supporters welcome at the County Ground at 2pm on Sunday. Cheers Rob

The outfield is still very wet after the recent rain and tonight's Under-13 training session will have to be called off.

Welcome to Swindon Cricket Under-13s

We train every Tuesday at the County Ground, from 6pm to 8pm