West Pennant Hills Cricket ¨C Under 9 Sky team v West Pennant Hills Under 9 Orange.

The West Pennant Hills Under 9 Sky Cricket team had a tough win at Glenorie Park against WPH Orange Team on November 17th. It was a low scoring match that was won through some tight bowling throughout the team.

The match started in Damp conditions due to morning dew although the Sun came through early and made most thankful for the early morning start. Dharshan and Josh were the opening 2 bowlers as Sky Blue bowled first. They were celebrating quickly following a run out on the second ball of the first over bowled by Dharshan. Tight and accurate bowling followed by both bowlers but no further wickets were forthcoming.

Nam and Shane were the following bowling pair and Shane’s first over (6th over of the match) brought a run out opportunity that was unfortunately missed, the first "4" of the match and then a great bowl for the 2nd wicket of the match. Nam followed this up with a steady over and on his last bowl got a well deserved wicket for the 3rd of the match.

Brendan and Thushira were the 3rd bowling pair and also continued with tight clean bowling. There was a missed catch by Leon in the 11th over but he more than made up for this with a great ground level diving catch in the 12th Over.

The last bowling set comprised of Leon (2 overs), Aaron and Sachin with 1 over each. The final wicket coming on the 3rd last ball to Sachin.

In all Sky Blue managed to hold the opposition to 50 runs off the 16 overs and took 5 wickets, there was a general air of optimism which would unfortunately be short lived.

The opening batters were Leon and Brendan and a quick single on the first ball to Leon started the score, this was followed by a wicket on the 3rd ball with Brendan facing. The break due to holidays and bad weather then started to take their toll with neither batsman getting their eye in to their usual extent. There was some confusing between the batsman in the 2nd over resulting in Brendan being run out. No further wickets were lost during the partnership but the scoring was also contained by the bowling of WPH Orange with only a single boundary to Leon across the 4 overs.

The second partnership of Sachin and Aaron lost a wicket in the first over with Aaron being bowled. The run rate was contained to 3 runs but there were a number of wides and no balls faced by both batsman.

The 3rd Partnership of Joshua and Thushira added a further 2 runs at the expense of a single wicket when Josh was bowled at the end of their 3rd over. There were however a significant number of wides and no balls across the over resulting in the run rate growing.

The final batsmen of Nam, Shane and Dharshan saw the loss of the 5th wicket on the 2nd ball with Shane facing. This lead to a nervous conclusion dependant on run rates and no further loss of wickets. Some good defence of the wicket and a number of no balls ensured that Sky Blue protected their wickets and finished on 59 for 5, helped by the second boundary by Dharshan in the penultimate over.

The final result was a victory to SkyBlue by an average of 11.9 versus 10 - a tough low scoring match with the victory earnt through the bowling performance and minimising of no balls and wides. A great team effort for all with the player of the week going to Nam and the Coaches Award to Leon.

Well done team!!
Player of the Match (Sky Team) : Namdev Sekar
Encouragement Award ( Sky Team) : Leon Walrond
Reported by: Matthew Collins

Posted by Sumith M Samarawickrama on November 19, 2007 08:06 AM