Under 11's v Shifnal 29th April 2009
Madeley arrived at Shifnal with last years
mauling still fresh in their minds. Their fears grew when captain Jack lost
the toss and Madeley were put in to bat by a confident Shifnal side. Captain
Jack and Charlie opened the batting against Shifnal's strike bowlers. They
fended off everything Shifnal could throw at them and scored an impressive
13 runs. Confidence started to grow within the Madeley side especially when
Will and Jack Simms took to the wicket. This partnership sparked a flurry of
runs. No matter what the bowlers tried to do both Will and Jack were more
than a match for them. Jack played one of the best shots of the night, a
superb hook through square leg for 4 runs. They scored an impressive 27
runs. Batsmen 5&6 (on loan from Shifnal) continued the impressive start with
another 16 runs. Pip and Joe took to the wicket and after some impressive
defensive play they opened up adding a further 17 runs to the total. The
final two batsmen, Will and debutee Matthew, took to the wicket. Shifnal
unleashed their pacey bowlers again. Both Will and Matt dug in and added
another 4 runs to the total. Madeley finished on 277 for 3 wickets.
After a pep talk, a glass of orange and several
biscuits the team took to the field to try and defend their total.
The new ball was handed to Pip and his medium
pace deliveries put the Shifnal openers under early pressure. The pressure
increased further when Charlie's fast paced paced deliveries had the batsmen
tied up in knots. Will came into the attack and kept the pressure up on the
Shifnal batsmen and he was rewarded for his good bowling with a wicket. The
Shifnal batsman did not see the ball as it took out the centre stump. There
was no let up on the pressure with maidens from both captain Jack and the on
loan Shifnal bowler. After being knocked for four runs captain Jack took
revenge by taking out the off stump of the Shifnal batsman. Jack Simms,
Matthew and another on loan shifnal bowler kept the runs down with some
fine deliveries. The highlight of this spell was two wickets in the one over
by the on loan Shifnal bowler. With only 5 over's to go Shifnal had only
scored 224 runs and still required another 54 runs to win. Madeley were in
the driving seat. Tensions started to mount when runs started to flow
especially when the last few Shifnal batsman got the run rate up to a
staggering 10 runs per over. This left the game on a razors edge with
Shifnal requiring 13 runs off the last over to win. The ball was given to
Ben the on loan bowler. After some brilliant bowling and fielding the
pressure was just too much on the Shifnal batsmen. They only managed to
score a few runs and ended up with 267 for 5.
tThis was Madeley's first victory,. so well done
lads keep it up. We are all proud of you.