Thongsbridge U/11 Cricket Team v Paddock (Home) Sunday 5 August  2007

This was the first game for 3 weeks as the game against Delph and Dobcross fell foul of the rain (again) and there were no fixtures last week (29 July 2007).

The weather for once was glorious and a good crowd were gathered to watch. Liam Johnson made his debut in this game as wicketkeeper. Paddock won the toss and elected to bat first.

Alex James, Gabriel Cullaigh and Tommy Woodhead bowled some tight opening overs and Gabriel grabbed the first wicket, comprehensive bowling one of the openers. Paddock struggled against some steady bowling and tight fielding. A series of wides and no balls allowed the score to mount. Fabian Cullaigh claimed the second wicket and this was followed up by his brother Gabriel getting his second wicket and Thongsbridge’s third late on. A late flurry of boundaries allowed Paddock to get to 240-3 from their 16 overs, possibly 10-12 runs more than they should have, however credit to Paddock as they dug in.

In reply Thongsbridge started confidently with Alex James hitting 3 boundaries in the first over, all straight drives past the bowler, however he was undone, being bowled of the last ball of the over. From thereon in runs were hard to come by against some very accurate Paddock bowling, aided by some outstanding fielding. All the batsmen struggled to score runs and it was not until the last pair of Tommy Woodhead and Liam Johnson came together that the score began to mount again. Some excellent running between the wickets enabled Tommy to finish with 11 and Liam Johnson a creditable 4 not out. Final score was 237-6 (189) and defeat by 27 runs.

Overall Paddock bowled better than Thongsbridge and held 2 very good catches as well, that proved the difference between 2 well matched teams.

Next game: v Slaithwaite , away, Sunday 12  August 2007.

Last game of season: v Armitage Bridge, Home, Sunday 19 August 2007

Andy Coldrick