First U12 League Game

This week saw the first U12 league game played at home against Sutton Coldfield. Put in to bat Sutton set about some too short bowling scoring at 8 an over throughout to post a total of 158-4. Wicket takers were Matt Gimson thanks to a good catch from Matt Bell, Harry Daniels took 2-21 including a stumping by Sebb Henn-Allen and there was a run out. Our batsmen then had to face some very tight bowling from Sutton who showed how bowling a full length made scoring runs difficult. Jack Madahar tried hard to up the run rate hitting 5 fours in his top score of 35 and Seb also made double figures with 2 fours but at the end of our 20 overs we had made 96 - 4.

Remaining U12 fixtures are

24th July Away Aston Manor
31st July Home Handsworth
7th August Home Walmley
14th August Away Aston Unity

U13 Match Reports

Apologies to eager blog readers for late posting of recent U13 match reports but even Saints are sometimes sinners!

Saints U13 v Sheldon Marlborough

Hatrick debut for Josh Culling.

Following on from the previous two wins against the good work continued against Sheldon Marlborough with another good team performance. Saints batted first on a hot sunny morning and got off to a solid start with an opening partnership of 42 between Jack Moore (7) and Michael Evans (24), the runs were continued by John Keighley (16) Tom Cooper (13) and Jack Salmon (11) giving a total of 96.

Good tight bowling by all 8 bowlers used saw Sheldon bowled out for 59. Pick of the bowlers were Josh Culling who on his league debut bowled 4 overs , 1 maiden and took an all bowled hatrick for 4 runs, Marc Masters also in his debut took two wickets in two balls as well.

Saints v Handsworth

Saints came up against a strong Handsworth side who bowled very accurately to restrict us to a total of 70-4 with Tom Cooper 39 not out the main run getter. Although we bowled tidily our total was never enough to pressure Handsworth who reached the target in the 16th over for the loss of one wicket taken by Ryan Sharma.

The next game was due to be against Highcroft who unfortunately didn't turn up due to a fixture mix up at their end giving us our 4th victory of the season.

Saints v Aston Manor

Aston Manor provided stiff opposition as our bowlers toiled in the heat against one particularly strong batsman whose 83 not out helped them post 173 for 3 with Jack Salmon , Ryan Sharma and Josh Culling taking a wicket apiece. Batting was just as hard with Aston Manor's spinners making life difficult for all. Aston Manor's 83 not out batsman followed up with a hatrick and despite double figure innings from Jack Moore, Jack Bingham, Jack Salmon and Ben Shough we were all out for 73.

Saints v Sutton Coldfield

The final league game of the season played this week saw us take on Sutton Coldfield on the hottest day of the year. Batting first we lost two early wickets but recovered to post a score of 95 - 6 thanks to Jack Salmon (17), Jack Moore (16) Jack Bingham ( 14) and John Keighley (11). A strong Sutton opening pair soon took control and Sutton reached the target for 2 in the 14th over, Harry Daniels taking both wickets.

So in summary 3 good wins 1 walkover and 3 defeats showing the importance of not bowling short particularly on our home slope. Thanks to all who have played and tried hard.

U9 North Birmingham Tournament Report

Saints Under 9 side competed in the North Birmingham club Tournament at Walmley on Monday and demonstrated the talent within this age group. In their first match they struggled against an experienced Walmley team and lost by 30 runs. For many of the kids, this was their first competitive match and although they bowled and fielded well, they struggled batting in particular running between the wickets. Having talked through how we could improve the kids performed superbly against Sutton scoring a useful 249 runs with William George, George Westlake and Oliver Tarr all hitting the ball cleanly. In response Sutton were well behind the rate with Harry Taylor and Nat Longhorne bowling particularly well but a great innings by the Sutton captain, hitting 3 fours off the last over meant Saints lost off the last ball of the match. The final game against Aston Manor saw Saints determined to win and they did so comfortably by 20 runs. The bowling stars were James Morley and Andrew Robson, as Saints restricted Manor to just 221 runs. In reply Saints batsman cut loose with entertaining knocks from Raul Ram and Arjun Goswami. Saints finished 3^rd in the tournament and will play later in the year in the Warwickshire County Cup.