U15A
Matches
Wed 27 Apr 2022  ·  East Area U15s Division 1
Highgate CC, Middx - Under 15
75/8
217/5
North Middlesex Cricket Club
U15A
North Mid player hits 130 in special innings.

North Mid player hits 130 in special innings.

Gerald Clark28 Apr 2022 - 10:51
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https://www.northmiddlesexcc.c

Four wins in a row for U15A.

North Middlesex U15A completed a very busy start to the season last night against Highgate, playing our fourth game in seven days. Three league games and one cup game, all won.

Captain Max Roxburgh lost the toss and we were put in to bat. Max and JC got off to a blistering start, hitting the ball to all corners of the ground. When Max was bowled, Cameron came in and continued the attack. As well as the boundary hitting (against good, pitched up seam bowling), they also ran singles, byes and kept rotating the strike, textbook stuff.

By the time Cameron was out we were already v139-2 and our batsmen were very much looking to come out, keep the strike rate high, and keep putting JC on strike. Thus every subsequent batter finished with a strike rate above 100.

This innings was quite remarkable. He rode his luck and was dropped a couple of times, but he’d hit it so hard that he was putting the pressure on the field, knowing that we still had batting to come.

Already once he passed 80 we knew that we were witnessing something very special. It’s very rare at this level to score a 100. Club legend Doug Teesdale thinks that possibly it has only been achieved in a Juniors game by Joe Cracknell or Luke Hollman (now both on the Middlesex staff), or Nick Woodfield, James Yorke-Starkey or Josh Alibhai – and that’s going back a bit.

So we knew we were witnessing something very special. JC went on to score 130 (being run out off the last ball, selflessly looking for extra runs) off only 67 balls. A truly remarkable feat, and one which led us to a total of 217.

This was always going to be challenging for Highgate to chase, but particularly because they lost their own Captain who fell heavily on his shoulder trying to catch one of JC's massive hits.

It was even harder against our very good spinners. We opened with Sachin and Robbie. Sachin bowled one of their openers at the end of his first over and then having moved Jasper in to first slip he took an excellent catch off Robbie’s first over to have them 7-2. They never recovered. It was a great pleasure to watch our spinners, Sachin taking 2-23 (his second also a fine catch at slip from Jasper), and Robbie could easily have had 4, both getting considerable turn and flight.

Their last two batsmen provided good resistance, but Sohan – a late replacement – chipped in as well with 3-10 from 3 overs, also bowling tight offspin and Ben completing a smart run out to have them all out for 75 in what failing light was not adequate to describe.

A great, clinical victory. This is a very well-balanced team with fine batsmen, great spinners a great keeper, and some good seam bowling options (Ben Chambers contributing again, Tom yet to fully emerge from an off-season injury, but looming as a secret weapon). But clearly this performance belongs to JC. One for the ages, and an innings that won’t be forgotten from those who witnessed it.

Match details

Match date

Wed 27 Apr 2022

Kickoff

18:00

Competition

East Area U15s Division 1

League position

1
North Middlesex CC - Under 15 A
5
Highgate CC, Middx - Under 15
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Grant Provider - The Tottenham Grammar School Foundation
Grant Provider - CSDS Foundation
Grant Provider - The Jack Petchey Foundation