U11's Lions (BYCL)
Matches
Wed 12 Jul 2017
Bedminster Cricket Club
U11's Lions (BYCL)
80/1
79/6
Stapleton CC
Under 11s reach Plate final

Under 11s reach Plate final

Andy Sledge13 Jul 2017 - 11:02
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Ali Butt at his rampant best to seal a final spot

Stapleton visited The Clanage for the semi’s of the plate. Following a tie at Blagdon on Sunday it was clear the lads needed to up their game if they wanted a chance of any silverware this season. Dan won the toss and elected to put Stapleton in to bat. The dependable combination of Charlie and Joseph opened the bowling for Bedminster, the Stapleton batsman treating them with the respect they deserved. 18 runs came off the eight overs of this opening pair, in his final over Joseph bowling Stapleton’s captain to take his tally for the season to 29 wickets. George and Ali were the next pairing, George bowling as consistently as ever, going for just 10 runs off his four overs, Ali on the other struggled with line and length conceding three consecutive boundaries in the twelfth over, the opening batsmen eventually carrying his bat with an impressive 25 no. off 22 balls. Harry followed on well from George. Billy also bowled well, stemming the run rate, his first wicket well taken by George at short third man, his second bowling Stapleton’s number seven. Billy also claimed a run out, sensibly realising he had enough time to run to the wicket to break the bails rather than needing to shy at the stumps. Stapleton finished up on 79-6, although the extras of 34 were more than the coaches would have liked this was an eminently gettable total for Bedminster's big-hitting line up. Cricket is a fickle old sport, in the quarter final Dan had looked a world beater with the bat yet this week he was unfortunately bowled on his second ball. The great thing about this team however is that they have strength in depth, in walked Ali Butt to the crease and that's when the fireworks started. Stapleton were unaware, but the warning signs were there even before the match started: Ali finding his huge slab of willow which he thought he’d lost last week. Ali would probably be the first to admit running between the wickets isn't his favourite of pastimes, but like one of Pakistan’s greatest, Imzamam-ul-Haq, you don't need to do much running if you keep finding the boundary . Ali bludgeoned five boundaries in his 28 no. off 19 balls, an audible sigh of relief from the Stapleton players when he was forced to retire. Billy was next to the crease, in contrast Billy and George were like a pair of prize greyhounds between the wickets, Billy having to be rather inventive with his shot selection in the face of some rather volatile bowling. It took just 11 overs for the boys to rattle off the required runs, George finishing on 23no. off 31 balls and Billy scoring a run-a-ball 8no. Hanham face Bedminster in the final a week on Sunday, if the boys bat like this they’ll be hard to beat. One thing that was great to observe in the huddle before the game was the impressive team spirit running through this group of lads, all supporting and encouraging each other, a team ethos that augurs well for next season and beyond.

Match details

Match date

Wed 12 Jul 2017

Kickoff

18:00
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Shirt Sponsor - Stanley Joseph
Shirt Sponsors - Glass Consultants
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