Selby vs Featherstone

It was the final league game of the season for the Selby u13 team and the weather was much improved after the earlier season visit to Featherstone as they looked to finish off the campaign unbeaten and after winning the toss and putting them it was a perfect start as Rhys Roddick bowled their captain with the first delivery. It was only 3 balls later when Roddick struck again with a smart catch from Joe Bugg to leave Featherstone on 0 for 2. At the other end Jack White was bowling a good line and length but the Featherstone opener was looking to take advantage of the short boundary as they started to increase the tempo. Roddick (2 for 0) followed his double wicket maiden with another maiden before the introduction of the Bugg brothers with Stan making his u13s debut a few weeks shy of his 10th birthday. Joe Bugg was causing lots of problems with his pace and accuracy and was unlucky to pick up a wicket while Stan Bugg bowled with great accuracy to also trouble the batsman and he got his reward with an in swinging yorker and provide him with his first wicket for the u13s and could easily have added to his tally with a couple more deliveries just missing the stumps.

Rowan Weightman was next into the attack and continued to make it difficult for run scoring as he only conceded 3 runs in his 2 overs. Harry Mcloughlin struck early with another catch from Joe Bugg and he continued to bowl well but again the shorter boundary was targeted by the Featherstone batters and with a few mis fields that was unlike the Selby fielders Featherstone were closing in on 50 runs. Skipper Emma Brewer and Billy Hields were the next bowling pair and Hields soon struck to take his first wicket for the club before Brewer also struck bowling out the batsman and leaving Featherstone on 58 for 6. Selby were looking to finish off the innings as quickly as possible but runs continued to flow as Lewis Cox, Charlie Singh and Zac Kierans finished off the innings and it was Kierans (1-5) who picked up a caught and bowled towards the end before Featherstone finished on 80 for 7.

Selby knew they would have to bat well to chase down the score and like Featherstone got off to a bad start as Joe Bugg (0) was caught off a top edge in the first over. Zac Kierans opened with Bugg and after a delightful shot for 4 was then bowled to leave Selby on 4 for 2. Alfie Laverack and Lewis Cox then set about rebuilding the innings and as Laverack (12) was just looking set he was caught with a one handed catch at gully. Another top edge this time from Harry Mcloughlin (0) left Selby in trouble at 19 for 4. After his bowling exploits earlier Rhys Roddick was looking to get his side back into the game and played some nice shots with good running between the wickets with Cox. After a good supportive role Cox (4) fell to another catch before Roddick reached his retirement score (25 no) with Selby still 25 runs away and time starting to run out. Emma Brewer and Billy Hields were looking to find the gaps but some good bowling and fielding was making it difficult to score runs and after a high full toss struck Hields on the back he retired hurt. This brought in Jack White (2) who was looking to accelerate the run chase but with a direct hit was run out. With time running out Brewer (5) was bowled looking for a boundary. Hields had bravely come back in and with another run out seeing Rowan Weightman (1) fall there was just a couple of deliveries remaining as the Selby winning run came to an end falling 12 runs short.

Overall, there was a number of positives to take from the game as well as some areas that can be worked on ahead of the final game of the season next Tuesday (20th) which is the cup final against Ackworth to be played at Ackworth.
There will be some friendly games taking place over the remaining weeks of the summer which will continue to give the squad some more cricket before the end of season presentation and dads vs lads game at the end of August