NMCC u13B v Primrose Hill u13B

Hi All,

First game of the season and unfortunately a loss. However, it turns out that Primrose Hill B are actually Brondesbury A, after the two colts teams decided to merge, although apparently neither teams wanted to mix with the other & therefore remained separate (I think it would be the same with us & Highgate!).

Primrose Hill went into bat first & they had some quality batsmen that thumped our boys around the park. It's usually a common frustration at the start of the season that after all the work put in the previous summer, the lessons learnt appear to be forgotten by the start of the following season & we always have to take two steps back to remember what we did. However, it was not the case this time as the boys backed up, encouraged each other & kept the extras down. The stand out bowlers here were Conor McNamara & Jack Leonard who both bowled well & straight, if without much luck. However, the boys captained by Sam Marshall ably assisted by Harry H stuck to their tasks and duly received their rewards with some late wickets.

143 was a huge task despite facing a reduced team, it didn't help matters when we lost our first wicket after 2 balls, although to be fair it was a cracking delivery. Matthew Ashley-Norman & Louis Smeeton delivered a great partnership to produce a respectful total, but it was never going to be enough.

As my first season with this group, my initial thoughts are that the boys lack a bit of self belief (one boy didn't want to bat or ball, he knows who he is!) so I think we need to help them overcome their fears & push them into trying things out. They will discover more than they will ever know they were capable of! It also helps that they all have a lovely attitude.

Here's the scorecard, see you all on Friday at 6.30pm sharp, even better - get there for 6.15 to be ready!

Scorecard link
https://www.crichq.com/#matches/507563/1st_innings

Bruce