U15: Ricky lose last over thriller to Berko

Ricky U15's were decimated by lack of availability and so it was more in hope than expectation that we took on a strong Berkhamsted team who had 2 or 3 County level boys in the team. Losing the toss, Ricky were inserted and soon lost Rahim for 2. Gopi was ticking along nicely but already much rested on our own Chris Gayle - Tahir. And so it was a shocking loss to lose him as he pulled a full ball straight up in the air, for just 6. Lewis came in and looked solid enough for a few overs before falling unluckily to a run out when backing up. Harvey and Gopi rebuilt but once Gopi had gone for 8 it was really just left to Harvey to cut and pull on his own. Bilal (8) and Yash (4) both departed too soon and when Kinu went for 4 and Callum next ball for a duck it all looked like a disaster. Will Cloke on debut made a solid 2 and Fred ran well to get us up to 96, but it was only Harvey's 33 that made any dent into the innings total, scoring 45% of the runs off the bat.

We really have to learn to bat with more application as 96 was about 20 runs short of a competitive score.

Luckily Ricky have 3 County standard bowlers of our own, and we quickly had Berko on the back foot. Tahirs first 2 overs went for 2 and Harvey's went for 7. Then came Bilal and Yash (who was playing up a year but gathered some good bounce and lines from over the wicket). In Bilal's 2nd over he got 2 wickets and then Yash ran out a batsman with a smart throw. At the halfway stage Berko were 38/3 and needed 59 off the last 10. Harvey rotated the bowlers and in a masterstroke brought on Callum who took a wicket in his second over. However the runs kept coming in drips and we got the the final over with 7 needed to win. with his 3rd ball Yash bowled out no7 and it was 5 needed off 3. But after a single, he strayed onto middle stump and was pulled for a 4 that finished the game.

And after all the hope and effort, Ricky had lost. But on reflection we should be proud of the way we fielded and stuck to our tasks. Especially the younger boys Callum, Will, Fred, Yash and Harvey. And especially Lewis who kept wicket in exemplary fashion to Tahir in particular.

We will come back from this