Penn Street Juniors vs Holmer Green U8s

For our third match of the season, we made the short trip away to Holmer Green, who proved to be excellent hosts. 

Put into bat, we were off the mark straight away with a quick single from Amelia, which she soon followed up with a lovely sweep shot for 4. Her playing partner Luella picked up a couple of runs herself and with no wickets for the pair, we were off to a great start.

Captain for the day, Luka, and Jack were in next, with both hitting the ball cleanly to pick up regular runs, including a number of 2s and 3s. Some super HGCC fielding, including a couple of solid catches, saved boundaries but couldnt stop a big pull shot from Jack for 4.  

The runs kept flowing for Alfie and Harrison, with lots of quick singles and both playing shots all around the ground. The partnership included a cover drive for 5 to Alfie, thanks to a little help from a strong opposition arm without backing up in support!

The next partnership of Hugo and Max accelerated the run rate even further with Hugo playing some glorious straight drives, including one for 4, closely followed by big shot over mid-wickets's head for another. Max had the other half of the wagon wheel covered, picking off runs with shots behind square and even trying an innovative approach using the back of the bat!

Finn and Tomas closed out the innings rotating the strike brilliantly, with Finn playing a lovely straight drive for 2. The pair exemplified the superb running between wickets from the team, taking advantage of a number of byes and putting the fielding team under pressure. For the second week in a row, we had posted an intimidating total over 300, finishing on 311.

The mid-innings break featured some delicious homemade lemon drizzle and watermelon kindly laid on by our generous hosts, with many kids (and coaches) going back for seconds!

Back to the cricket, having just about located all team members from a half time game of Manhunt, Penn Street took the field, with Captain Luka choosing to open the bowling. Having restricted the scoring through Luka and Luella's bowling, the opening pair were under pressure and went for a quick single, only to be run out by Luka, who calmly took the bails off.

More miserly bowling from Alfie, Harrison and Max resulted in more wickets, with Max bowling one of the openers and Jack getting a run out with a brilliant direct hit. The tight bowling continued with Hugo, Tomas, Finn and Ameila, with wickets continuing to fall and being shared around - Tomas bowling one of the new batters and Ameila picking up another, with a good catch by Luka (returning to the field after a bee sting and a little help from anthisan!).

The excellent performance with the ball continued in the second half of the innings, with more strong bowling from all, including a wicket for Alfie following an outstanding low catch by Hugo. Some nice shots followed from Holmer Green but the sharp work in the field kept going, as Hugo got another direct hit run out, while Alfie and Luka combined for our 4th of the day! In the end we restricted HGCC to 263.

Another highly enjoyable Sunday morning, watching some great cricket. Our unbeaten start to the season continues! Thanks to all, including a nod to scorer Steve, who proved more reliable than a app!