Match Report

U11 vs Claverham Cougars, 18th June 2006

Cheddar (278/5) beat Claverham Cougars (166) by 112 runs

Cheddar captain, James Bamber, was worried when the home team won the toss and elected to bowl first. In the first over, his worst fears were realized when opener Joel Butcher was bowled for 6, but some solid batting by Dan Scholes, Sam Bath and Harry Bishop (10 runs) saw off the early pressure. Finley Travis tried to accelerate the scoring with a couple of boundaries, but both he and Dudley Patience succumbed to some accurate bowling by Claverham. The Bamber/ Gittings partnership once again flourished, producing 30 runs before Gittings was run out, leaving Bamber on 15 not out. Dan Mehlig and Sid Morris continued the good work with a partnership of 27, Morris hitting a four off his first ball in consecutive innings. Mehlig top scored with 17, and Cheddar finished with a creditable 278/5.
Cheddar went on to the field after the break with only one thought in mind - bowl at the stumps and the wickets will come. In what proved to be their best ever day in the field, the bowling was solidly backed by electric fielding, brilliant catching and solid keeping by Dan Mehlig.
The Cougars were devastated early on by Bishop with 4 wickets including 2 caught and bowled, in a fine spell of 3/2/5/4. Dan Scholes, who pace belies his size, also had a fine match, ending with 3/2/1/3.
The pace duo of Bamber and Butcher took the balance of the wickets, Butcher bagging 2 and Bamber ending up with 4/3/1/3. The captain's spell in particular was extremely hostile, yielding 3 wickets for only 1 run and conceding no extras for the first time this season. The fine team spirit rounded off a great morning's cricket for Cheddar when they bowled the opposition out for 166, giving Cheddar their second large win of the weekend when they won by 112 runs.