Dominant batting performance ends league campaign in style
Avoncroft Under 11s made it 7 league wins in 8 games with a comfortable 51 run victory over Malvern, clinching the league title in the process to cap an excellent first season for this new side.
Croft maintain their usual pattern of batting first and again this proved effective as they looked in control from ball one. With a few players missing due to holidays, Olly Shelton stepped up to open the batting with regular opener Ben Huxley and the pair started in a confident and controlled manner, defending solidly when required and putting away the bad ball when it came along. In several games this season, the Under 11s have got off to a flying start before stuttering somewhat at various points in their 20 overs. In this game, whilst the start was steadier in nature, it built the platform for Croft to play positive cricket throughout the whole innings. Olly Shelton was the first batsman to cut loose, unleashing several booming drives to reach his retirement score of 30* in the 9th over. Ben Huxley soon followed suit as he reached 33*, an innings that included a few nicely timed pushes through the off-side as well as his usual trademarked pull shots.
Croft lost the only wicket of their innings shortly afterwards as Augustus Cole was caught for 1, but this did little to stem the flow of runs as Liam Livesey and Ben Athey joined forces to accelerate the run rate. As well as showing his usual dominance against anything drifting into his legs, Liam also played a couple of beautiful off-drives in an innings that showed glimpses of real batting potential. Alongside him, Ben Athey continued his excellent form with the bat, showing some lovely timing through the covers as well as some more powerful leg-side flicks over mid-wicket. Both batsmen finished excellent innings on 27* as Croft reached an imposing 166-1 from their 20 overs.
In reply, Croft’s bowling and fielding strangled things early on as openers Ellie Griffiths and Callum Hooper maintained an excellent line & length. The first wickets fell with the introduction of left-armer Rufus Cole, who bowled both openers on his way to figures of 2-12 from 3 overs. Malvern battled well in the middle overs with Jack Church looking in good touch as he reached 30* and Toby Sample supporting him well with 23*. Not to be outdone by his brother, Augustus Cole (1-12) picked up his first wicket for the club and, with Ben Athey (1-6) also getting in on the act, Malvern finished on 115-4.
Match Report by Paul Athey, 13/08/18
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