Winners of Bedfordshire U14 Festival..........
Hertfordshire Under 14 Boys spent Tuesday 11th-Thursday 13th August at the Bedfordshire Cricket Festival.
We arrived at Ickwell Cricket Club at 10:00 AM on Tuesday morning, with the boys full of excitement and energy. The first game was a tough one against Lincolnshire. Hertfordshire won the toss and decided to bowl first due to the format of the competition. Lincolnshire got off to a good start, and had a let off when of all people safe hands Captain David Burnell dropped what can only be described as a clanger! Burnell made up for his error quickly by holding onto one in the same position to dismiss Richard Bell, an important wicket as last year the same batsman had scored 170 vs Herts!
Lincolnshire were going on nicely at a healthy rate and at times we feared the score might be higher than we would have liked, however the boys picked up wickets at crucial times and every time a batsman looked set Hertfordshire managed to get them out. Lincolnshire were restricted to 185. Highlights from the innings include 3-34 for Kailum Patel, 2-19 for Max Lawrance and a well held catch by Matthew Ball on the boundary!
In reply, Hertfordshire batted sensibly on a track that wasn’t easy to get in on with the ball appearing to get stuck in the pitch, causing a few batsman to play false shots. The boys lost a few quick wickets as the innings went on which left the coaching team, parents and indeed players slightly nervous – but Joe Hawkins calmed everyone down with an impressive innings to finish the game off in style. Batting highlights include a responsible innings of 42 from Connor Dudley at the top of the order, a classy innings of 41 from David Burnell and as previously mentioned Joe Hawkins with a gutsy 31 not out to seal the win for Hertfordshire.
We went off to get settled in to our accommodation for the festival at Shuttleworth College and tucked into pizza for dinner, before we somehow managed to get the boys off to bed for an early (ish) night!
The second day provided a good challenge as we were playing London Schools who had chased down 267 the day before with a 6 off the last ball!
We were playing at picturesque Southill Park, a great venue for cricket and won the toss again, deciding to bowl first.
London Schools batted well on a very good deck, making their way to 233. At some stages of the innings it looked like we were going to be chasing more, so credit to the bowling and fielding efforts to restrict them to what the locals were saying was an under par first innings score! Tom Orchard bowled well with 3-24 off 9 overs.
The reply got off to a shaky start as Jake Morris fell early after being sent in to have a swing. David Burnell and Jack Leathem both played mature, responsible innings with some classy shots including a competition for who could hit the biggest six, David Burnell dispatching one over deep square leg which at one point looked to be travelling into the Whitbread mansion house gardens! Jack Leathem decided he wanted in on the big hitting and played a sweep shot that resulted in the ball getting stuck in the tree!
Abhay Hirani played a good cameo to get 20, but once again it was Joe Hawkins who saw the team home with another impressive knock of 42 dubbing him the new nickanme “the finisher”. Big celebrations when the winning runs were hit by Kailum Patel.
Back to Shuttleworth we went for a pasta dinner and some football against Lincolnshire. The boys decided against an early night… even the threat of a visit from the Director of Performance Cricket couldn’t persuade them that heading to bed was a good idea!
Following this…a sleepy, lethargic looking squad turned up for the 3rd and final day at Southill again. Hertfordshire unfortunately lost the toss, however Bedfordshire decided to bat first, which gave the coach, captain and team manager reason to smile as we were happy with the outcome of the coin toss.
The Innings got off to a quick start and the fielding/bowling initially matched the lethargy that preluded the game on arrival. Bedfordshire were 178-1 with over 15 overs still left to bat. Up stepped the big man Max Lawrance! Max bowled superbly with turn and bounce causing havoc to the Bedfordshire batting line up picking up 6-33 and restricting Bedfordshire to 239 all out in 48 overs! David Burnell’s one handed diving catch Ben Stokes esque and a one handed caught and bowled by Matthew Ball some more highlights from
a superb effort of bowling and fielding from the Hertfordshire boys.
With 239 the target for victory and to win the festival outright the boys were tucking into tea full of thought about how they were going to score the runs. Rahil Thaper and Connor Dudley went out to open the batting but 8 overs in the rain came!
We waited around in hope that the game would get underway again soon but unfortunately the bad weather remained and the game was abandoned. An anxious wait then as the boys were aware that Lincolnshire had beaten London Schools at Ickwell down the road, meaning bonus points were vital to secure the title of champions.
Chief Executive of Bedfordshire Cricket Martin Darlow started the presentation, and announced the result we were all hoping for – Hertfordshire Under 14’s were champions of the Bedfordshire Cricket Festival 2015! Max Lawrance finished the festival with a trophy for best bowler, ending three fantastic and fun days of tour with some success too!
A big thank you to Bedfordshire Cricket for arranging the festival and all other teams involved for 3 great days and 3 closely contested games.
Sam Rose
Hertfordshire U14 Coach