U13A League match - 20th July 2009

North Middlesex U13A (40 all out) lost to Primrose Hill U13A (41-6) by four wickets

And so, the boys’ competitive summer ended all too soon on a temperamental North Midd track. With our division performance good enough to qualify for the Middlesex knock out tournament, we faced Primrose Hill who’d won three out of three against North Midd teams this season. Unfortunately, despite a spirited performance in the field, our batting total wasn’t nearly enough and Primrose Hill won again.

With Greg a late call-off, our already weakened team suffered another late blow although the visitors were in the same position with summer holidays playing havoc with selection. Captain for the night Ben won the toss and elected to bat which looked a good decision until we saw how the wicket was playing. Openers Seb (to a decent catch) and Miles departed early along with Douglas as we lost three wickets for just six runs. Clearly the bowlers had the advantage and that was confirmed as other wickets fell cheaply. Only Ben (19 and top score of the night) looked like scoring runs with three fours in his total although Albie struck a couple of shots to the boundary before we were all out for a season-low 40.

Give credit to the boys though, they didn’t give up the chance of an unlikely victory. Primrose Hill had eased to 13-0 before Amit, with a terrific direct hit from mid-on, ran out the non-striker. Joe held a good catch and when Ben knocked out the middle stump of their number five, we glimpsed a chance at 23-3. Although we managed another three wickets – Ben with another direct hit run out, another run out and a stumping for Miles – we couldn’t prevent Primrose Hill getting to their total with four wickets to spare.

Report : Roddy McDougall

U13A League match – June 26 2009

North London A (138-6) beat North Middlesex U13As (135-5) by 4 wickets

Jimmy Greaves - now happily rewarded with a medal for his 1966 World Cup Final exploits - made a successful TV career out of shaking his head and opining that “Football’s a funny game, Saint.“ He could very easily have said the same of the more gentile sport of cricket based solely on our two matches against North London this season. In the first, we were unceremoniously tonked. Last night, with, on paper, a much weaker side, we gave probably our best team performance of the season and came within a gnat’s whisker of winning. North London, at full strength and playing in the Middlesex county final on Monday, only clinched victory with three balls to go. It was that close and while defeat, especially against your keenest rivals, is never easy to take, all the boys should take great heart and credit from their performance.

Greg won the toss and wisely decided to bat. Encouragingly, we took the game to North London and were 21 without loss after two overs. While Alistair fell lbw in the third, Jimmy kept the scoreboard ticking with his best batting performance of the season, striking fours to both leg and off with apparent ease. Greg (13) joined him and took advantage of some surprisingly less than impressive bowling from North London who ended up giving away 21 in wides and no balls in the innings. The second wicket fell at 69 in the ninth over when Jimmy (39) was unluckily run out within striking distance of a maiden fifty. We then wobbled slightly when Greg was caught and Luke was caught and bowled to leave us on 71 for four in the tenth. Luckily, Douglas came in to steady the ship and produce his most confident batting of the season, six fours in an unbeaten 30. North London brought Zamir on and his spin slowed us down with just nine runs conceded in his three overs. Seb, suffering from suspected appendicitis but still adamant he’d play, struck a very useful 19 not out near the end to take us to 135 for five, our best score of the season.

North London have some fearsomely good batsmen and we knew we’d need early wickets to stand a chance of winning. Greg and Alistair did just that, Greg bowling Zamir with one that kept low and then catching Henry off Alistair’s bowling. After four overs, North London were 11-2 and behind the run rate. But Frankie - the hammer of North Midd previously - was looking in ominously good form, taking quick singles around the ground whenever he wanted. He and Charlie added 81 for the third wicket striking several sixes and fours off a couple of our bowlers. But the North Midd heads didn’t go down. George, who’d helped to slow the run rate with his hard-to-hit deliveries, bowled Charlie. Fergus, showing great character, came back from the pavilion end to have Angus trapped lbw. And then, with three overs left and North London within 16 of victory, George took the vital wicket of Frankie when Greg picked up another smart catch. At the start of the final over, North London needed six for victory. The first ball was hit for four but Alistair came back by bowling Riaz. The next one was a dot and with two needed for victory off three balls we began to hope again. But Patrick held his nerve and scored a four to give the home side victory.

Great credit to all the boys - including Alex who fielded excellently, Ben who bowled two overs for 16 at a time when Frankie was looking to let rip and Nicky who filled in at the last minute from the U11s and didn’t look out of place at all. Greg was an inspiring and alert captain and nearly helped to pull it off for us. Credit too to all at North London who were welcoming and generous throughout the match and who made this a good evening - even in defeat - to play a game of cricket.

Report : Roddy McDougall

U13A League match - June 16th 2009

Hornsey U13A (118-6) beat North Middlesex U13A (112 all out) by 6 runs

Even in the cold light of the morning after (that's enough clichés ed), it's hard to understand exactly what happened here. It was horrible - with a capital H.

Picture the scene, a glorious summer's evening, the Midd, chasing 119 for victory are coasting to victory at 99-1 after our best partnership, by some way, of the season. Six overs to score remain to score just 20 runs with a lightning fast outfield and short boundaries to help us on our way. Hornsey heads are down, a third league victory is in sight, a celebratory beer awaits. All is well with the world.

Uh-oh.

Five overs later, we've somehow contrived to lose nine - yes NINE - wickets for just 13 - yes 13 - runs to lose the match. Hornsey are dancing and whooping around the pitch after the most remarkable escape they're likely to take part in and we're left shaking our heads and wondering how THAT happened. This was a collapse to match any I've ever seen.

It was particularly hard too for Greg and Miles who had done almost everything to put us in a strong position for victory with a terrific second innings partnership of 90, far and away our best this summer. Greg began tentatively and was dropped early on but grew in confidence and scored nine fours - including several off and straight drives - on his way to an excellent 43. Miles, strong on the leg side, scored eight fours on his way to 36. They'd come in after Jimmy had gone early to a good ball that kept low and had taken charge from then to keep us ahead of the run rate. But when Greg was bowled on 99, the collapse began. Too many silly wickets fell in the panic that followed. Afterwards, the boys felt aggrieved with two of the lbw decisions but decisions can and will go against them for as long as they play cricket and they need to learn to get on with it. And, after all, we shouldn't have needed to worry about a couple of lbw decisions given the position we were in.

Hornsey's innings was, in some ways, a reflection of ours. They reached 73 for one after 12 overs and looked likely to reach 130 plus. But with wickets - and good bowling - from Sean (2-22), Amit (1-22) and Greg (2-23) - we managed to pull them back and limit them to 118-6. Included in that total, however, were no fewer than 23 wides - again far, far too many at this level of cricket and, in the final analysis, a telling factor in our eventual defeat.

We now have just two league matches left to salvage an up and down season - North London and Hampstead. It would be nice to think we can beat North London after the thrashing they gave us earlier in the season but we'll need to bowl - and bat (Miles and Greg apart) far, far better than we did in this one. How the boys respond to this loss will be crucial.

Report : Roddy McDougall

U13A League match – June 8th 2009

North Middlesex U13A (108-6) beat Islington U13 (75 all out) by 33 runs

Let’s first of all celebrate the good news from this game: we won against a team who’d beaten us back in April (albeit Islington were noticeably under-strength); we finally got out of our rut of scoring no more than 80-odd runs; we finally had a batsman (Ben) who managed to score a substantial innings (43); and we were ruthless in bowling and fielding at the start, reducing Islington to 23-8 in the tenth over.

Less impressive was the slump and complete lack of concentration over the following six overs which saw us give up no fewer than 23 wides and 3 no-balls, grant a 50 partnership to the ninth innings pair and let the visitors right back into the game. Thankfully, Greg and Fergus returned to the attack to grab the last two wickets and ensure a much-need victory.

Islington arrived at the Midd unbeaten in all their league games but minus their impressive wicket-keeper. Greg won the toss and opted to bat. Our new opening partnership of Luke (making his first appearance of the season) and Jimmy didn’t last long, Jimmy being unfortunately run out without facing a ball. But Greg and Luke kept the scoreboard ticking along before Greg was stumped for 16. Ben came in at number four and proceeded to play the sort of innings we all know he’s capable of. His score included two huge sixes and four fours as well as some sensible defensive shots to the better balls. Ben has the natural talent; if he can just apply himself and become a more consistent scorer he could go much further. When he departed, Islington’s spinners had already started to slow the run rate down, but some solid strikes from Seb (14 not out) helped us reach our first hundred of the season.

Islington’s reply got off to a poor start, not helped by two fairly suicidal run outs. Jamie made an impressive first appearance of the season with two wickets in his first over and with one wicket for Ben and another for Fergus, Islington were struggling on 14-6. Albie and Miles both picked up wickets but then the procession of wides and no balls began as the boys lost concentration. We had two ten ball overs followed by a 14 ball over which just isn’t good enough. With five overs to go Islington needed just 43 runs to win – an unbelievable statistic given where they’d been. Luckily we woke up in time and got the final two wickets.  

Report : Roddy McDougall

U13A League match - June 4 2009

Hampstead A (127-1) beat North Middlesex U13As (84-9) by 43 runs

This was always going to be a tough game with Hampstead top of the division and so it proved - even with several players missing on both sides due to exams. We had a chance to restrict them when, after seven overs, they were just 29 for one. But strong hitting from Sam Ridley and some slightly less disciplined bowling and fielding from North Midd saw the home side reach 127 after 20 overs, a total which was to prove too much for us.

Due to traffic problems and late-finishing school matches, the game didn't get underway until nearly twenty-five past six and was further delayed when Miles was struck on the knee with a sore one. He had to hand over the wicket-keeping gloves to Jimmy. Greg and Ben bowled four good overs - with Ben taking what would be our only wicket, knocking over the opener's stumps. Fergus and Sean bowled well to start with but, after the Hampstead number three also retired hurt, Mr Ridley came in and began striking out for the boundaries. It wasn't a flawless innings. We had four chances to catch him - one decent, three hard - and put them all down which was to cost us dear. He finished on 55 not out.  We were also guilty of giving away 19 in wides and no balls, by far our worst of the season so far, which helped the home side reach 127.

We know that batting has been our main problem this season and it would be great if boys were keen to improve that by getting in early and building an innings. Instead, we again had to cajole to find an opener alongside Greg. Jimmy stepped forward and ended up nearly carrying his bat, falling in the 19th over for a plucky 20. A few more with Jimmy's battling approach would work well and if he'd switched to a more aggressive approach a little earlier he'd have been our first batsman into the 30's without a doubt. As it was, we never really looked like getting near 127. We fell behind the run-rate early and, once again, no-one really looked confident enough (Jimmy aside) to get in for any great length of time. It was disappointing and, at the moment, it's hard to see where inspiration with the bat is going to come from.

Report : Roddy McDougall

U13 B league match - May 20th 2009

North London U13 B's beat North Midd U13 B's by 26 runs

Our second match of the season saw us face a decent North London side with one outstanding batsman who in the end was the difference between the two teams. Joe won the toss for North Midd and decided to bowl as he (correctly) felt there was some turn in the wicket. North London got off to a strong start though, putting on 14 runs off the first couple of overs before Conrad claimed his first wicket of the season, clean bowling their opener. Our fielding was generally pretty good, but North London found a few gaps and both the other opener and number three scored some fours before Oscar cleaned bowled the second opener with the score at 30. At this point North London's number four came in and quickly started to despatch the ball around the ground. However we plugged away and continued to challenge the other batsmen, with both Joe and Dariush bowling some excellent spin and taking some quick wickets, putting us in a strong position with North London at 68-6 off 13 overs. Their number four however had different ideas and hit the ball hard around the ground, scoring nine fours and a six before finally falling, caught behind by Kai (our excellent stand-in keeper) off the bowling of Hal, for 61. The 17th over was particularly decisive, with North London scoring 16. In the end we failed to get the last wicket, and felt, despite some accurate bowling and generally good fielding (we only dropped one catch out of seven chances), that we had loosened the grip that we had had on the game after 13 overs. North London finished with a total of 121-9, with notable bowling figures from Dariush (2-3), Hal (2-8) and Conrad (2-9).

Chasing just over six runs an over, Kai and Hal got us off on a very strong footing, putting on 47 for the first wicket partnership. Hal even managed a six before falling, cleaned bowled for 16. Kai continued the good work but struggled to form a partnership with Jo, who was out for 2. Isher came in and put in a second consecutive solid innings, this time of 12, starting to time the ball well and running and calling intelligently. However Kai then fell for 32, which included five fours and a five. North London's keeper wasn't the strongest that we'll face this season, and there were 12 byes and some overthrows as well.  With Kai back in the pavilion and the score on 65-4 off 14 overs, the run rate was slowing down to a snails-pace. Oscar (1) failed to get going this time, and Matt, coming for his first match after injury, fell without scoring. John bravely battled away before unfortunately retiring hurt after the keeper accidently hit him with the ball when trying to run him out. We failed to get any momentum going and Sam and Eddie had barely any time to get anywhere like the required number of runs, despite Eddie hitting a four past mid on. We finished on 95-6, 26 runs short of the target.

The positives to take away from the match are that the bowling was generally tight, and our fielding practice is beginning to pay dividends. With the bat, we need to build some more partnerships, and there is undoubtedly the talent there to do so. We perhaps could have taken some quicker singles but the calling between the wickets is improving. But in this match, the main difference was that we came up against a team with one very strong  batsman who played a fine innings and also took a couple of wickets.

Match report: Nick Hodgson  

U13B League match - May 17th 2009

Highgate U 13 (135-6) beat North Midd U 13 B's (89-6) by 46 runs

In our first match of the season, the Under 13's B team team battled in deteriorating conditions against a strong Highgate side but fell well short of the target of 136 runs. We won the toss and elected to bowl under dark clouds, but some very slow fielding in the first few overs allowed Highgate to get off to a strong start, putting on 34 runs after just four overs. In the fifth over Krishan struck twice in consecutive balls, both excellent catches (by Isher and Sam) to get us back into the game. They reached the fifty mark in the eighth over at which point we immediately struck back with two quick wickets, both excellent clean balls by Joe. Highgate then went on the form a fifth wicket partnership of 57, with the outfield still dry and quick before Hal struck with two late wickets, again both clean bowled. Highgate finished with a total, of 135-6, with wides contributing 22 extras to the total - clearly something our bowlers need to work on. The significant bowling figures were Krishan (2-7), Hal (2-21) and Joe 2-22). After our very slow start in the field, everyone started to concentrate and be more focused with Conrad and John contributing to some good throwing and backing-up.

We started our innings with some light drizzle in the air and whilst we look comfortable, at the end of the second over some poor calling resulted in Hal being run out as the non-striker. Joe came in at number three to steady the ship and immediately started finding gaps in the outfield together with some good running between the wickets. Kai was caught in the fifth over after playing some promising strokes without getting many runs. At 18-2 we were well behind the required run rate and the drizzle was turning into rain, slowing the outfield significantly. At this point Isher and Joe started to play some great shots, but the slow outfield meant these were ones and twos when in the Highgate innings these would have gone for four. They put on an excellent stand of 43 before Isher was bowled for 11. After a brief cameo appearance by Max (a great shame as he had earlier put in a very tidy performance behind the stumps) leaving us at 61-4 off 13 overs, Oscar came in and played some intelligent stokes before being bowled for six. Krishan was then very unlucky to be run out as the non-striker, falling over midway down the wicket as the rain made conditions very poor. Sam then came in a for a brief spell before being out, leaving us at 88-6. Eddie came in a took a quick run but fell over as he reached the other crease, adding an almost comic feel to proceedings, with the light failing badly. Eddie finished not out 1, with Joe providing an inspired captains innings of 25 not out, but in the end we were well short of the target.

Full marks, though, to the spirit of the team. It was very very wet, and cold, but we battled on, didn't complain or give up, and in (hopefully!) better conditions we have the potential to have a good season.

Match report:

Nick Hodgson

U13A League match - May 11th 2009

North London U13A (197-1) beat North Middlesex U13A (81 all out) by 116 runs

This was, not to put too fine a point on it, a tonking. There were mitigating circumstances, including having to start with just nine players in the field, but even a full-strength side would have struggled to match North London. Their impressive openers went at our bowlers from the start and we had a taste of what opposing teams must have experienced last season when Connor, Zulfi and Charlie were in such devastating form. At the same time, our reply was disappointing with too many wickets given away cheaply. Extra batting practice is now on the cards for all!

The Midd can be a very cold place on an early May evening when there's a wind blowing and that was the case here. We won the toss and surprisingly decided to field, despite multiple school cricket matches causing havoc with the line-up and timekeeping. North London's openers, Frankie and Zamir, weren't hanging back though and set about our attack in confident fashion. Everyone suffered at their hands as the ball was dispatched to the boundary with, for us, depressing regularity. Greg bowled stoically with his four overs going for an economic, on the night, 24 runs. Amit caused them a few problems and nearly had Frankie caught behind with a sharp chance just before he reached an excellent, unbeaten century. Douglas bowled the last over, nearly getting a wicket when a towering shot was spilled, and got the only wicket to fall with a run out off the last ball.

Getting to a winning total was always going to be a hard job but, even so, our response was disappointing. Callum was caught first ball. Greg (10) stroked a couple of nice fours and was then bowled. Ben (14) hit three sumptuous cover drives to the boundary and was then frustratingly bowled by a straight one. Douglas (18) could have been stumped without scoring or caught on five but then settled to some nice shots before being bowled. He and Matthew (23 not out with some good leg sweeps for fours), supplied the only meaningful stand of the innings - 34 - to bolster the middle order. But it was never going to be enough and our ten men were all out for 81. Credit to Seb who took a nasty knock on the face at the end of the North London innings but was determined to come out and bat and to brother Sam who filled in admirably in the field.

Four games into the season and our highest individual score is 23 - shared by Matthew and Douglas. That's not nearly enough at this level of cricket and the batsmen need to be getting into the 30's and 40's, never mind the 50's and beyond, so we can start building decent team scores. They have the skills to do it but they need to apply themselves better.

Report : Roddy McDougall

U13A League match - May 7th 2009

North Middlesex U13A (80-9) beat Hornsey U13A (74-6) by six runs

A win at last - and one that says a great deal for the character and tenacity of this year's team. Once again, we failed to build a commanding score in our innings, although a tricky, early-season North Midd track was never going to be an easy place to score runs. But with some excellent bowling and good fielding we managed to keep Hornsey below the required run-rate throughout while taking wickets at key moments.

If Saturday's game had been shirtsleeves and suncream, tonight's was cagoules and warm coffees (thank you Mr Cannon!). But at least it stayed dry. Captain Greg won the toss and opted to bat first. And, unlike our two opening matches, we didn't lose early wickets. Greg (7) and Alistair (12) batted sensibly and safely into the eighth over against some good bowling. But runs were hard to come by, just 19 when the first wicket fell, and some acceleration was clearly needed. Ben (11) hit a four and a towering six and Miles added 10 to celebrate his selection for the Middlesex Development Squad - congratulations from all of us at the Midd! But too many other players (four) were out for big round zeros and it was a combination of late byes and an invaluable 11 not out from Fergus that helped us get to 80 after 20 overs.

One of the best things about this year's team is that we have a flotilla of good bowlers. With Hornsey fielding some strapping lads who wouldn't have looked out of place in an U18 team, accurate bowling was going to be vital. Greg and Alastair set the tone, with Alastair taking the first wicket with an lbw. The fielding was good too, Douglas spotting a run out opportunity and his strong throw to Matthew behind the stumps was expertly dealt with for the second out. When Alistair (2-8 in four overs) followed up in the sixth over by clean bowling Hornsey's danger man, we were in with a shout.

Hornsey added just eight runs in the crucial middle overs (7-12) thanks to some excellent bowling from Ben (two maidens in four overs for just seven runs) and Fergus (two maidens as well and a wicket courtesy of an well watched and taken skier by Greg). While they had wickets in hand, Hornsey dropped behind the run rate. Amit claimed his first wicket with a ball which stayed low to remove Hornsey's top scorer and the balance of the game swung to us. Ten were needed off the final over bowled by Greg. There was never much danger of that as Greg bowled very well and claimed a deserved wicket into the bargain.

Report : Roddy McDougall

May 3rd 2009

Spirit of Cricket U13 Cup: North Middlesex U13 (82 all out) lost to Primrose Hill (83-5) by five wickets

Sadly, our defence of the national championship won by last summer's U13 squad didn't last very long as we lost this first round match at Regent's Park on Saturday morning. Just like our first league match earlier in the week, it was our batting which let us down. Our total of 82 was at least 20 runs too few and while we bowled and fielded very well, Primrose Hill always had enough wickets and overs in hand to secure victory.

With Greg a late withdrawal due to a back injury, we were luckily able to welcome back Alistair as captain. He won the toss and decided to bat on what turned out to be quite a fiery wicket. Unfortunately Primrose Hill's opening attack were in good form and reduced us to 32-5 after seven overs. Matthew (8) went to a particularly good ball which swung. At that stage, we looked like we might struggle to make 50. Douglas, though, produced the best batting performance of the morning to hit a confident 23, which included five fours, several of them excellent cover drives. But when he was caught, our scoring rate fell and only six runs were added from the 13th to the 17th over. Jimmy was the only other batsmen to hit double figures (14) before being unluckily run out and we were finally all out for 82.

Victory wasn't impossible but it would take excellent bowling and fielding to achieve it. Callum's first over was a maiden and that set the tone for the rest of the team with line and length generally very good - only one wide and one no ball were bowled in the whole innings. The first wicket fell in the fifth over, Douglas making an early bid for catch of the season with a diving leap to his left at short mid-wicket. Three overs later we had a second, Alistair clean-bowling the Middlesex squad's Mr Bouchier. And when Ben claimed another wicket in the ninth over with a terrific ball which snapped the wicket we had a glimmer of a chance, especially as Primrose Hill were actually behind where we'd been at the same stage.

Despite more and accurate bowling, we couldn't take enough wickets. Sean and Alistair both nearly took very difficult catches as Primrose Hill tried to hit out. Seb was brought on to vary the attack and took a wicket with his first ball when Sean took a good catch and Ben (2-5 off three overs) took a second clean-bowled. But Primrose Hill claimed victory at the end of the 18th over and we were out.

Again, no complaints with the team spirit and enthusiasm or the bowling or fielding. But more batsmen need to find their form - and quickly - before our next league game against Hornsey. 

Report : Roddy McDougall

U13A League match

North Middlesex U13A (84 all out) lost to Islington U13A (87-3) by seven wickets

This was a disappointing start to our league campaign. None of our batsmen really managed to establish themselves and dominate the bowling. This meant we were probably 30 runs short of the total we needed and, while we briefly threatened to halt Islington’s progress, we never looked like taking enough wickets to get down to their tail.

With the afternoon rain clearing, there was sunshine on the Islington astro-wicket as we began our innings after losing the toss. Matthew went early, caught behind, but Greg and Ben both looked keen to keep the score ticking along, aided by a good number of wides from the Islington bowlers. Both batsmen should have fallen to straightforward catches though – Islington managing to spill five in the first seven overs which, had they been held, would have made our position worse. Ben was out, caught for six, after striking one huge four and Greg was well stumped for 14. Miles and Seb kept scoring at a decent rate but when Miles was caught for 12, we began to struggle against some good and accurate middle-order bowling. Batsmen six, seven, eight and nine all went for just four runs although Seb was still there, the only batsman on the night who really played himself in for a good few overs. He finally went for 14 with Albie left on nine not out after a couple of lusty blows towards the end.

If we were going to make a game of it, then we needed early wickets. However, the Islington openers scored often and easily and we were soon on the back foot. Albie was the pick of the opening bowlers with Ben also bowling well later. The first wicket, though, fell to Callum in a good spell of bowling when he clean bowled Islington’s dangerous opener. Greg added a second in similar fashion and we had a glimmer of a chance as the home side struggled to make runs for the first time. Amit, making his debut for NMCC, bowled two excellent and accurate overs which impressed the rest of the team and suggested good things ahead. Seb took the third wicket – bowled – at the end of the 16th over, but defeat was confirmed in the following over.

With several players making their debut for North Midd (as well as Amit, we had Fergus and Jimmy), the squad will clearly take a little time to gel and get used to each other. Encouragingly the team, led by Greg, never let their heads go down and there was a good team spirit throughout. Credit too to both teams for getting through their overs in good time so the game was over before the short light of a late April evening went completely.

Report : Roddy McDougall