BCCC Junior Cricket Wrap for February 27
It was a great day for morning cricket, but not so good if you were playing afternoon cricket like the year 7 Prems team. Most of the pictures in our gallery this week are from the Year 5 Vikings match – with a few from the Pacers’ game, also played at Birkenhead. Please send any corrections or names for photo captions to denisemontgomery.cricket@gmail.com
Year 5 Vikings valiant in battle
Birkenhead’s Year 5 Vikings played ECB Baycaps at home.
ECB batted first and Harry and Jared were the pick of the bowlers with two wickets each, while Aiden and Josh also picked up a wicket each. Of note also was the fact Toby Cooke bowled a maiden in the last over of the innings when the opposition were looking to pile on more runs.
Our fielding was much improved on the previous week, but there still needs to be more backing up and communication from the boys.
At the end of their innings ECB had 148 runs on the board.
Our batting innings started pretty well with Harry and Josh only losing one wicket and Josh top scoring with 13. Batting second, Leo and Jared were solid and defended their wickets really well, losing none in their four overs. (In this grade you lose five runs for every wicket, so defence is just as important!)
Unfortunately we lost three wickets in our third partnership and that put extra pressure on the final two batsmen. The two Tobys, Cooke and Jackson, were valiant in the chase but another wicket fell along the way making the mathematical equation even tougher.
It was exciting and close… but unfortunately we lost by a mere 4 runs.
The lesson the boys need to take from the loss was to bat a bit more aggressively and really protect those wickets more … don’t back away from the ball and never give the bowler all three stumps to aim at! When batting, each partnership faces 36 balls and we need to make every one count. If your batting partner says there’s a run there and he can see the ball better and calls you, you need to run, not wait for everyone to yell ‘run’ from the sideline. It’s all about developing trust and communicating clearly with each other when we are batting and when we are fielding. (Also a reminder that batsmen about to go in should be warming up with throwdowns from their teammates.)
All in all a much better game this week – but we will be two players short next week so if there are any year 5s wanting a game (or confident year 4s) please get in contact with junior convenor Stacey at the club. – Greg Hart
Cobras playing year 5 hardball
A big welcome to hardball cricket to a talented bunch of year 4 cricketers from BCCC, now playing hardball as well as their Friday night game. The Birkenhead Cobras played a team 1-2 years older than themselves on February 20 (February 27’s report still to come).
Unfortunately the outfield resembled a farmer’s paddock, making boundaries hard to come by – some really great shots were rewarded with only a single run as the ball got stuck in the long grass. But great communication between the batsmen meant that the runs kept ticking over and all the partnerships scored well and the boys set up a great total.
What really impressed was the energy and wonderful teamwork that the boys showed for the whole innings in the field, with some truly fantastic fielding and accurate bowling resulting in lots of wickets… all of this meant that the mighty Cobras had a resounding victory in their first game! – Scott Huntington
Year 6 Curtling
Curtling took on North Shore Potter at Devonport Domain. After being put in to bat we scored 147 for six. There were good performances from all of our batsmen; no one was out for less than 10. The top scorer was Alex Godward, who made 30, batting with a broken finger in a cast. Mitchell Tucker scored 28 off 27 balls, and Everton O’Leary 19 from 8 balls.
So another great win for Curtling, but even more pleasing was to hear the North Shore parents congratulate our boys for being the most sporting team they had played against.
Year 6 Green (aka Tulloch)
Birkenhead Green lost to ECB Daredevils. (Report to come)
Scorecard
Under 12 girls: Dragons breathe fire again
The Dragons showed their spirit this week in a well-deserved win against the Parnell Sapphires (sadly Parnell were down a few players to start and they turned up just in the nick of time). Thank you to Rose who showed great spirit of cricket in helping Parnell on the field as they were down a player.
Batting first the opposition scored 55/5 off their 25 overs
The last two weeks have not been easy for the Dragons, but so this win was a great confidence booster for the girls. They had less wides and a lot more accuracy which is always fantastic to see. It wasn’t a huge score to chase (5/55) but they gave it their all with some great wickets by Annabel, Rose, Molly and Rebecca. Our run rates getting higher as each game goes by which is exciting to see. Brooke was our player of the day with 3 maiden overs.
Once again, thank you to our scorers Pete and James – it is always appreciated.
Year 7 Pacers keep the winning pace going
Year 7 Strikers strike bad luck with rain
BCCC Y7 Strikers took on Parnell Ravlic in hot and humid conditions for the premier cricket afternoon game at Kaipatiki Park. Losing the toss, Birkenhead was asked to bowl first on a damp and skiddy track, and despite a few close calls, it took a great catch by Spike (off the bowling of Jason Kay) at square leg to get the initial breakthrough in the 17th over.
Some loose bowling cost BCCC dearly and Parnell cashed in with an impressive 225/9 off their allotted 40 overs. On a day where all the bowlers struggled in the heat, Jason was particularly impressive with some sharp swing bowling, but it was line and length bowlers Nathan Lyndon (2-13) and Cameron Smith (2-8) who did the damage towards the end of the innings. Spike Ruffell also ended the day with 2/33 off 7.
With rain in the air, it was always going to be a race against time, and despite a valiant batting effort to get ahead of the required run rate, Birkenhead Strikers came agonisingly close but ultimately ended up just 4 runs short when the game was finally called off after 15.3 overs (15 overs constitutes a match).
Special mention to Jesse Hohaia who smashed 35* off 24 balls and was in full flight before the rain swept in and the game was called off. So close…
Disappointing end and a tough game to lose – we will be back again next week, with a win in our sights… – Steve Ruffell
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