Penn Street Juniors vs Penn & Tylers Green U8s

We welcomed Penn and Tylers Green to Penn Street for our final friendly match of the season, even if their green and yellow kit made them look like the Aussies!

Fielding first, Captain Alfie opened the bowling and got us off to a strong start. Backed up by Finn, we restricted them early on before Max struck, taking a wicket thanks to a smart catch by Alfie at cover, who continued to set the standard for the team. With runs off the bat difficult to come by, thanks to some more good bowling from Charlotte on debut, Peter, Harrison and Jack, the pressure was building and Archie and Jack combined for a run out as the opposition looked for a quick run.

We struggled a little bit for consistency with the ball in the second half of the innings but the great work in the field continued to dry up the runs, with Finn and Jack both producing fantastic deliveries to take a couple more wickets. P&T ended up posting a solid 296 for us to chase.

Eyes lit up on both sides as ice pops were kindly offered up by Carrie at the interval; the perfect refreshment on a warm morning. No signs of orange segments though....which had been mooted during the week, so some of the Penn Street team chowed down on popcorn instead, in a manner that was asking for an intervention from a red kite!

Back to the cricket and Alfie led his team out with batting partner, Ameila. The pair played some lovely shots on the offside and kept us up with the required run rate early on. Next in were Archie and Jack, who both frankly smashed the ball to all parts, with three boundaries each in consecutive overs to put us well on top. 

Finn and Peter followed suit with plenty of twos and a couple of big fours from Peter, with one that would have been a six, if I'd set up the boundary just an inch shorter! By this point we were already ahead of the 296 target, which excited the squad operating the scoreboard, but Barrington rules meant the game was not done yet. The sibling batting partnership of Charlotte and Harrison did well to add some more runs, off some of the opposition's better bowling, although our progress was checked by a couple wickets.

Then things got a bit nervy. Some optimistic running from final pair Tomas and Max resulted in a couple of run outs in their first over and we dipped back to 291. The nerves were just with the supporters though (or even just the scorer!), as the pair exuded confidence out in the middle. They finished with a flourish, scoring 30 runs off the last three overs, including putting their early running troubles behind them to capitalise on all the overthrows on offer. We finished on 321 to claim our fourth win in a row and end the season unbeaten.

The team have been sensational and a joy to watch all season and as we now head into tournaments, in this form, it will take a special team to get the better of us!