Croft’s U12s come up short in run chase
On a miserable morning for cricket, Avoncroft Under 12s visited Alvechurch for a Worcestershire County Division 1 clash. Bowling first, Croft lacked their usual spark early on. A mistake by Alvechurch opener Cameron Jones gave Matthew Athey the chance for an easy run out with the score on 25, but apart from that lapse, the home side cruised along to 55-1 before the introduction of Oscar Jinks dragged Croft back into the game. Oscar bowled Claydon for 12 with his first ball before removing Harry Rachman for 17 to finish with figures of 2-9 from his two overs. A tight spell of swing bowling from Henry Jenkin (1-6 from 3 overs) kept the pressure on, and a late wicket for Matthew Athey (1-8) limited Alvechurch to 85-5 from their 20 overs.
On what was now a wet wicket with a slow outfield, 86 was going to be a tough target, and it was made more difficult with some excellent opening bowling from Zach Spencer and Harry Rachman. The opening pair extracted some extravagant seam movement, picking up 3 early wickets. Henry Jinks steadied the ship and, whilst he found runs hard to come from, he got his head down and slowly started to turn the innings around. Matthew Athey contributed 9 runs but he was bowled with the score on 25 with any thoughts of victory a long way off. Toby Smith took on the challenge of pulling Croft back into the game, taking the initiative with a series of attacking shots. Just as Croft started to feel back in the game, Toby was caught for 15 and whilst the tail battled to keep the innings going, the return of Rachman (4-5) finished things with Croft 20 runs short.
Match Report by Paul Athey, 05/06/2017
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