County Under 12 Results
2010 Report
Wiltshire Under 12s v Dorset Under 12s - Sunday 11th July @ Steeple Langford CC
Wiltshire Cricket Under 12 squad played the next of their County friendly fixtures against Dorset CCC at Steeple Langford Cricket Club on Sunday 11th July 2010 in excellent weather conditions.
Wiltshire won the toss again and did not hesitate to bat on a flat, good wicket with a fast outfield that offered good cricket conditions for both teams.
Dorset started well with George Wilson and Will Matthews bowling tight opening spells. This meant the Wiltshire openers of Sam Arnold and Stan Alsop had to work hard for their runs. The scoreboard moved along steadily with Wiltshire at 20-0 after 10 overs and the openers moved the scoreboard along with more freedom against the change bowlers for Dorset. With the score on 33 Wiltshire lost their first wicket to a run out. Stan Alsop was out for 6 runs and this run out started what was an excellent display by Dorset in the field. Jake Goodwin joined Arnold at the crease at the pair continued to move the scoreboard along. Goodwin playing strong and accurately placed drives on both sides of the wicket and Arnold rotating the strike well and putting away the loose ball had a partnership of 48 runs. The scoreboard was at 81-1 in the 22nd over when Goodwin was given out LBW to spinner Dominic Clutterbuck for 32 runs.
Arnold was joined by Oliver Dawe-Lane but Clutterbuck was bowling well controlling the run rate and looking to take further Wiltshire wickets. He did this when he tempted Arnold out of his ground and Dowding completed a solid stumping. Sam Arnold had worked hard for his 23 runs. With the score on 92-3 in the in the 26th over, Wiltshire needed a positive partnership to drive them forward to a competitive score on the excellent facilities at Steeple Langford. Ben Draper joined Dawe-Lane and they picked up the scoring rate briefly until Draper was well caught by a diving MacDonagh at short cover off the bowling of Clutterbuck for 10 runs. Johnny Bishop then quickly followed in Clutterbuck’s next over by being caught at short mid wicket.
Dorset had brought some control to the Wiltshire innings by accurate bowling and their fielding standard had been good throughout. The score was at 113-5 in the 29th over when debutant Alex Bates joined Dawe-Lane. However, Dawe-Lane was soon out for 15 runs to another excellent piece of Dorset fielding. Josh Hodder and Bates worked to get Wiltshire to a competitive total and mixed good running with punishing any loose balls to the boundary.
Dominic Clutterbuck finished his spell with excellent figures of 8-0-24-4 and brought the required control and wickets to the Dorset bowling attack. Dorset rotated their bowling options in the final 10 overs as Wiltshire pushed on. Bates and Hodder contributed an excellent partnership of 30 runs in good time until Hodder was well caught by Price of the bowling of MacDonagh for 10 runs. With the score on 147-7 and 3 overs left, Bates looked to continue to be positive but was next out, bowled by Matthews for a good 20 runs on debut. Dorset put pressure on the new, lower order batsmen by further excellent fielding culminating in the final two Wiltshire wickets falling to run outs as they scrambled for runs in the final overs.
The Wiltshire innings closed at 152 all out from 39.5 overs and Dorset could be very satisfied by an excellent performance in the field, taking 4 run outs, and a competent bowling display from all their young bowlers, especially from Dominic Clutterbuck who took 4 wickets.
At the interval, Wiltshire felt the score was probably 20 runs light of where we wanted to be on a good batting wicket with a fast outfield and needed some accurate, controlled spells from the Wiltshire bowlers to keep Dorset in check.
Jake Goodwin and Robert Horn opened the bowling for Wiltshire and Goodwin immediately got an early breakthrough for Wiltshire. With the 4th ball of his first over, he bowled Hendy with a good, full pitched delivery. This bought Dorset captain, Caldwell into partnership with Clutterbuck. Wiltshire were bowling with good control in the opening overs and got the second Dorset wicket with the score on 4 runs. A mix up between the batsmen left the Caldwell stranded and an excellent return from Ben Smith to wicketkeeper Draper affected a good run out.
Dorset needed to consolidate as Wiltshire pressed for more early wickets. Jamie Price joined Clutterbuck and they started to move the scoreboard forward positively for Dorset. Price playing extremely positively with some superb, powerful shots. Wiltshire rotated their seam bowlers looking for more wickets, with Ben Smith and James Webb bowling short, tidy spells.
With the score on 38-2, Clutterbuck was run out by an excellent piece of individual fielding by Oliver Dawe-Lane. The ball was struck crisply by Clutterbuck to the cover boundary area, where Dawe-Lane slide to retrieve the ball and returned a hard, long throw to the wicketkeeper’s end. The throw was powerful and accurate and hit the stumps directly leaving Clutterbuck just short of his ground. A superb piece of fielding bought Clutterbuck’s inning to an end for 19 runs.
Wiltshire captain Goodwin turned to his spinners for the wickets and control needed to win the game for Wiltshire. Off spinner Fraser Gordon and leg spinner Sam Arnold came into the attack and Jamie Price, with Nico MacDonagh, continued to be very positive towards the goal of scoring 153 runs. Price played fluently and MacDonagh rotated the strike as the scoreboard moved forward quickly for Dorset. They progressed the score to 94, through a partnership of 56 runs, when Sam Arnold induced a loose shot from Jamie Price and he was comfortably caught by Robert Horn for an excellent 49 runs. Price had played fluently and fell short of what would have been an excellent half century for his team.
The partnership between Price and MacDonagh had moved the match in the favour of Dorset, with the score at 94-4 in the 19th over, however with this breakthrough Wiltshire had fresh hope. George Wilson joined MacDonagh and the latter took on the responsibility for keeping the runs flowing.
Wiltshire introduced a further spinner into the attack with Josh Hodder and this gained some control of the runs. Dorset were working their way to the winning total of 153 and progressed to 125-4 in the 25th over. At this point, Josh Hodder took the wicket of MacDonagh with a catch to Goodwin at mid off for a fine 26 and Gordon immediately followed that up for Wiltshire with the wicket of Wilson, caught and bowled for 10 runs. This double breakthrough encouraged Wiltshire that the game was not all over and they kept believing they could win the match.
Dowding and Gynes worked the ball around well for Dorset and Wiltshire returned to opening bowler Goodwin for more wickets. With the score at 143-6, Goodwin got a further wicket with Dowding out for 10 runs and this ensured an exciting climax for an excellent game of junior county cricket.
With only 10 runs required to win for Dorset with 3 wickets left, Wiltshire needed more wickets as overs were not going to be a problem. Goodwin followed up the wicket of Dowding with that of Gynes but Dorset had moved the scoreboard onto 150-8. Goodwin was in an excellent spell of seam bowling and struck again bowling Leadbeater with the score still on 150.
The watching crowd and players on the boundary edge had been excellently entertained by the standard of this junior county match with the result moving between the two teams throughout the day!
Gerrard Benfield and last man Robert Paul had the challenge of scoring the final 3 runs to take Dorset to victory and Jake Goodwin, in tandem with Josh Hodder, were looking to take the final wicket and take Wiltshire to victory.
Hodder bowled attackingly but was unable to get the final wicket and Dorset moved closer to the target of 153. In the 37th over with Goodwin bowling at good pace, Dorset managed to get the winning run to secure an excellent victory for their team.
Jake Goodwin was the stand out bowler for Wiltshire picking up 4 wickets for 28 runs from his 7.2 overs, with the trio of Wiltshire spinners, Arnold, Gordon and Hodder, all picking up a wicket a piece. Wiltshire worked tirelessly in the field to keep up the pressure on the Dorset run chase and the fielding and bowling was of a good standard but Dorset got across the winning line to secure a highly entertaining win for everybody watching the game.
It was an excellent game of junior cricket and is important to thank Steeple Langford for hosting the game so well for Wiltshire Cricket. The facilities and hospitality did contribute to an absorbing game and enjoyable day.
Wiltshire Under 12s v Gwent Under 12s - Wednesday 16th June @ Corsham CC
Wiltshire Cricket Under 12 squad played the next of their County friendly fixtures against Gwent at Corsham Cricket Club on Wednesday 16th June 2010. Corsham Cricket Club was in excellent condition for the match and the weather was again set to be very good for the boys.
Gwent won the toss and immediately elected to bat to make the most of the superb weather and wicket conditions.
After the comprehensive loss at the hands of a very competent Hampshire team on the previous Sunday, it was going to be very interesting to see how the Wiltshire team responded. Everything had been positive in the pre-match discussion and warm up and the boys were looking forward to the challenges the match against Gwent would represent.
Gwent’s opening batsmen Bevington and Kerr started well against the opening attack of Sam Burton and Sam Julyan. The two Sam’s bowled with control and did not concede easy runs with loose bowling. Bevington had run a number of quick singles with his partner Kerr but with the score on 29 off 9 overs they tried to run one too many and a rash call from Bevington caused him to be run out after calm work from Wiltshire captain, Jake Goodwin.
Kerr continued to bat sensibly accumulating runs well and he was joined by Davey. Wiltshire changed their seam bowlers, with Jake Goodwin and Robert Horn coming into the attack. With the score on 40, Gwent lost their second wicket with Davey being given out caught by wicket keeper, Ben Draper, down the leg side off the bowling of Goodwin.
Wiltshire were working hard with the seam attack to apply pressure to the Gwent batsmen and control the scoring rate and this was helped when Robert Horn bowled Gwent captain Taylor-Wood with a ball moved away from the batsmen. Morris joined Kerr and moved the score along to 88 runs in the 20th over before Kerr was run out. It was smart work by Sam Arnold at mid wicket and an accurate return to Draper to complete the run out that achieved this further breakthrough for Wiltshire and at the half way point of the Gwent innings they were 88-4.
Jake Goodwin turned to his spinners with Josh Hodder and Fraser Gordon operating in tandem producing a good spell of cricket for Wiltshire. Gordon tempted Morris out of his ground and Draper completed a sound stumping to remove Morris for 12 runs. Off spinner Gordon then followed it up immediately by bowling Scarborough with the Gwent score on 97-6. Hodder, bowling with good control again of his leg spin, then got the wicket he deserved trapping Keane LBW for 4 runs to a very full ball. With the score now at 97 runs for 7 wickets in the 24th over, Wiltshire were looking to control the Gwent scoring so they had as few as possible runs to chase.
Gwent fought back well through Leader and Williams. They batted very sensibly picking up singles where possible and hitting and loose bowling to the boundary. Wiltshire were trying to get a further wicket and rotated the bowling. Gwent moved the score onto 123 through this excellent partnership of 26 between Leader and Williams until Gordon got his third wicket of the innings.
Gwent were on 123-8 at this stage with 10 overs left and needed to continue scoring to put up a competitive total for Wiltshire to chase but had to balance this against the wickets they had lost.
Wiltshire’s third spinner, Sam Arnold, was introduced into the attack and was immediately rewarded with the wicket of Williams, LBW, for 17 runs. Gwent’s last wicket pair of Keane and Tindall decided to be positive and scored runs quickly with Tindall getting to 16 not out before Keane was out caught behind for 5 runs. Arnold had taken the final Gwent wicket to a fast spinning leg break, with the support of a good catch behind again from Draper, and Gwent closed their innings at 150 all out from 36 overs.
This had been a good response from the Wiltshire boys, after Sunday’s disappointment, in the bowling and fielding departments. Fraser Gordon was the pick of the Wiltshire bowlers picking up 3 wickets for 16 runs from his 6 overs. However, all the bowling showed development with Sam Arnold picking up 2 wickets for 12 runs from his 4 overs, captain Goodwin 1-17 from 5 overs, Josh Hodder 1-18 from 5 overs and Robert Horn the other wicket taker with 1-24 from his 5 overs.
A solid display of Wiltshire batting could be enough to secure them a further win as the Wiltshire management felt the target of 151 was below the par score for the excellent Corsham wicket and fast running outfield.
With some Wiltshire players not be available through school commitments, this gave opportunities to other young players inside and outside of the current squad. Todd Richardson was brought into the squad to bat at 6 for the game and Stan Alsop was moved up to open with regular opener, Sam Arnold.
Wiltshire started positively with the run chase. Sam Arnold being particularly severe on any loose bowling and the score moved quickly onto 26-0 after 5 overs. Arnold and Alsop also ran well together rotating the strike well so bowlers could not settle. After the opening bursts from the Gwent bowlers were negiotated, Wiltshire were on 34-0. Gwent introduced the spin of Morris and he brought the control and wickets Gwent were looking for. Wiltshire’s first wicket fell in the 14th over with the score on 54. Sam Arnold and Stan Alsop had been positive throughout their innings and with a fifty run opening partnership completed continued in that way.
Arnold had scored a confident 36 runs when he left his ground for a Morris delivery and was stumped by Williams. This wicket brought Wiltshire captain, Jake Goodwin to the wicket and he had been in good form for the county this summer so far.
Alsop’s wicket soon followed in exactly the same fashion as his fellow opener. The score was on 62-2 and Alsop had gone for a good 16 runs. This brought Sam Julyan to the wicket and after some hard hitting drives from Goodwin they moved the score onto 76 before Julyan called for a run and was run out for 3 runs. It was an excellent piece of fielding from the Gwent side and this was in the middle of a tight spell of bowling from Morris. He bowled with good control and variation to pick up two wickets and slowed up the Wiltshire scoring rate.
This brought together Goodwin with wicket keeper / batsmen, Ben Draper. Wiltshire still needed 75 runs for victory in 20 overs with 7 wickets remaining.
Goodwin was in full flow playing text book cover drives mixed with good running. Draper responded to the lead set by Goodwin with excellent drives and rotating of the strike. They saw off the excellent spell from Morris who returned figures of 8-1-19-2 and set about taking Wiltshire past the Gwent total.
Gwent tried a number of bowling options working to break the Wiltshire partnership between Goodwin and Draper but the Wiltshire batsmen continued to score runs at a fast pace.
Wiltshire past the Gwent total of 150 at the end of the 31st over to win the game. Jake Goodwin and Ben Draper put together a partnership of 75 runs in 12 overs to take the game away from Gwent and secure a well deserved victory for the Wiltshire team by 7 wickets.
Wiltshire captain Goodwin notched up his second half century in 4 innings for the Wiltshire Under 12 squad on his way to an excellent 58 not out and Ben Draper contributed well in the partnership ending on 28 not out to add to his 3 wicket keeping dismissals.
Gwent worked hard throughout the game and put together a noteworthy performance in the field but their score was a minimum of 20 runs light of a good score in the conditions.
This was an improved performance from the Wiltshire team and a performance that should provide the boys some confidence as we move forward in the season.
Paul Draper
20th June 2010
Wiltshire Cricket team: Sam Arnold, Stan Alsop, Jake Goodwin, Sam Julyan, Ben Draper, Todd Richardson, Josh Hodder, Robert Horn, Ben Smith, Fraser Gordon, James Webb and Sam Burton.
Scorer: Lesley Morgan
Wiltshire Under 12s v Hampshire Under 12s - Sunday 13th June @ Redlynch and Hale CC
Wiltshire Cricket Under 12 squad played the next of their County friendly fixtures against Hampshire CCC at Redlynch & Hale Cricket Club on Sunday 13th June 2010 in excellent weather and ground conditions.
Wiltshire won the toss and elected to field. The wicket looked good but after an indifferent performance in the field and with the ball against Oxfordshire and understanding the quality of the opposition, Wiltshire decided to chase the runs Hampshire would get as the batting conditions were unlikely to change adversely throughout the day.
Hampshire’s opening batsmen Max Harsham and Ben Calders started positively. Wiltshire bowled with more control at the outset with Adam Thompson’s opening burst conceding 11 runs but anything loose was punished by the Hampshire batsmen. They rotated the strike well with good running and worked the ball in the gaps positively. Wiltshire captain Jake Goodwin introduced the off spin of Fraser Gordon early on to gain some more control but Hampshire continued to accrue runs at a healthy run rate.
Hampshire batsmen Harsham and Calders celebrated an excellent 100 run opening partnership but Harsham was the first wicket to fall soon after. With the score on 104, Wiltshire seamer James Webb induced Harsham to hit the ball in the air to mid-wicket where Ben Smith took a solid catch.
Goodwin rotated the bowlers using seamers Robert Horn, Goodwin himself and Webb to try and gain further breakthroughs but Hampshire continued scoring runs at a good pace.
Harry Hovey was adjudged LBW to Goodwin to give Wiltshire a further wicket with the score on 127. Wiltshire’s fielding was holding up under the conditions and good scoring rate of Hampshire.
Spinner Josh Hodder came into the attack and bowled with some early control. He was rewarded with the wicket of Josh McCoy, caught again by Smith at mid-wicket. Ben Calders, Hampshire’s opening batsmen, was continuing to score runs positively against all the Wiltshire bowlers and passed his personal landmark of 50 off 80 balls. Calders was solid in defence but attacked the bowling at every run scoring opportunity to good effect.
Tom Halsen joined Calders with the score on 152 for 3 wickets but was soon run out after good work from Wiltshire in the field. Hampshire were eyeing a score of 200 as they pushed for late runs.
Hodder continued to offer control through his spin bowling and Gordon, Good win and Thompson completed 8 over bowling stints. Joe Theobald joined Calders as Hampshire pressed on and scoring quickly. They moved the score onto 193 before Hodder picked up the wicket of Theobald, caught well by Goodwin at mid-off. Oscar Birnil continued with Calders and at the close of the Hampshire 40 overs they had scored 201-5 wickets. The excellent Calders scoring 91 not out, a superb innings.
Wiltshire worked hard in the field but again showed the areas of further development for the squad.
At the interval, Hampshire were by far the happy side compiling an above average score on the good Redlynch & Hale wicket. Wiltshire knew it would be an excellent chase to get near the challenging Hampshire total.
Sam Arnold and Oliver Dawe-Lane started the batting reply for Wiltshire brightly before Arnold was adjudged LBW with the score on 12. Hampshire continued to press for early wickets with well set fields and accurate bowling. More wickets did fall at regular intervals of Wiltshire’s response.
Dawe-Lane had played some pleasant shots before being caught and bowled by Ray for 12 with the score on 36 for 3 wickets.
The rest of the Wiltshire batsmen did not reach double figures as Hampshire continued to pick up wickets regularly until Josh Hodder batted sensibly scoring 14 runs.
The accuracy of Hampshire bowling and fielding was of a high standard and Wiltshire did not manage respond with the required application at the crease.
As the wickets continued to fall regularly, the final Wiltshire wicket was taken with the score on 75 and a comprehensive victory for Hampshire by 126 runs. All Hampshire’s 6 bowlers returning good figures. Opening bowlers Bobey and Buckbridge taking a wicket each, Richards and Birnil take 2 wickets each but it was Tom Ray who was pick of the Hampshire bowlers picking up 3 wickets for 14 runs.
The all round performance from Hampshire was noteworthy and a credit to them in all aspects of the game. Wiltshire need to recover quickly from this performance and we are all looking forward to the next match v Gwent shortly to show an overall improvement in our performance and coach Ali Goddard was quick to be positive with the boys highlighting the areas of our game that were good.
Paul Draper
14th June 2010
Wiltshire Cricket team: Sam Arnold, Oliver Dawe-Lane, Jake Goodwin, Johnny Bishop, Ben Draper, Stan Alsop, Josh Hodder, Adam Thompson, Robert Horn, Ben Smith, Fraser Gordon and James Webb.
Scorer: Lesley Morgan
Wiltshire Under 12s v Oxfordshire Under 12s - Monday 31st May @ Abingdon School
Wiltshire Cricket Under 12 squad played the next of their County friendly fixtures against Oxfordshire CCC at Abingdon School on Bank Holiday Monday 31st May 2010 in good weather conditions.
Wiltshire lost the toss again and were asked to bat on a flat, good wicket that offered good cricket conditions for both the bat and ball.
Wiltshire lost an early wicket as Sam Arnold was bowled and this brought together Oliver Dawe-Lane with captain Jake Goodwin. Opener Dawe-Lane played the anchor role as Goodwin batted positively with crisp and flowing drives through both the off and leg side. They scored relatively freely against Oxfordshire seam bowlers and moved the score on to 78 before Dawe-Lane was stumped off the recently introduced spin of Patty.
Spin provided an effective tool in reducing the run rate that Wiltshire were scoring at. Sam Julyan worked with Jake Goodwin to move the score onto 99 before Julyan became Oxfordshire’s 3rd wicket. Oxfordshire had gained further control with spinners bowling in tandem at both ends but Goodwin brought up his 50 with another powerful straight drive. Ben Draper looked to be positive with Goodwin against the spin attack, including one powerful lofted drive back over the bowlers head but was bowled by the returning seamer Davies.
Wiltshire, led by Goodwin, continued to push on looking to increase the scoring rate and Goodwin was joined by Stan Alsop. Alsop hit three crisp leg side boundaries to increase the scoring rate but perished whilst trying to hit the spinner. Goodwin batting was of a high quality, hitting any loose bowling cleanly to the boundary. He moved into the 80s with three overs left and was out for an accomplished 83 again trying to get Wiltshire to a competitive score. Josh Hodder and Adam Thompson rotated the strike in the final couple of overs well to get Wiltshire to the total score of 155 for 6 wickets in 40 0vers.
Jake Goodwin’s innings was noteworthy. His innings contained a number of powerful drives on both sides of the wicket and his concentration and composure to put together an individual score of 83 were outstanding.
At the interval, Wiltshire felt the score was probably 20 runs light of where we wanted to be on a good batting wicket and needed some accurate, controlled spells from the Wiltshire bowlers to keep Oxfordshire in check.
Sam Julyan and Robert Horn opened the bowling for Wiltshire but Oxfordshire opening pair of Granby and Garrett got them off to a flying start. Goodwin was forced into two early changes in seam bowling, bringing on Ben Smith and James Webb, desperately trying to get the control Wiltshire wanted but none of the four bowlers were totally effective.
Oxfordshire were scoring freely and moved the score onto 59-0 off 10 overs. Goodwin turned to his spinners in the 11thover trying to gain the control and wickets needed to swing the game back in Wiltshire’s favour. Off spinner Fraser Gordon bowled with good control and not much luck whilst at the other end, leg spinner Josh Hodder delivered the control Goodwin wanted, including the much needed first wicket.
With Oxfordshire progressing very well, Garrett offered a tough caught and bowled chance to Hodder. The catch, head height to the left of the bowler, needed an athletic catch which Hodder held onto spectacularly to gain Wiltshire their first wicket. Garrett had batted well for his 43 runs and with Granby, put on 83 for the first Oxfordshire wicket and they were both particularly effective against the Wiltshire seamers.
The spinners continued to restrict the run rate well both finishing their spells with excellent figures, Gordon 8-1-19-0 and Hodder 8-1-10-1.
Whilst Wiltshire restricted the runs, Oxfordshire continued to work to score the 156 runs required for victory. They did not throw away wickets with high risk shots to get them to their target they continued to work the ball around and use the overs up in their quest to win the game.
Oxfordshire were still in the ascendancy with wickets in hand and overs left but Wiltshire continued to squeeze the game by introducing third spinner, Sam Arnold. Arnold immediately picked up the wicket of White, soundly caught by Goodwin for a good 20 runs. With the score at 123-2 and requiring 4 runs per over for the final 9 overs, Wiltshire returned to seam bowling and Goodwin and Thompson gained some much needed seam bowling control.
Granby, who opened the innings for Oxfordshire, continued to pick up the singles where possible and putting the bad ball to the boundary, completed an excellent 50 and brought his team close to the winning score with Scott-Kerr.
Wiltshire picked up a further wicket when Scott-Kerr worked to scramble a quick single, only for Sam Arnold to effect a good run out with the score at 145 for 3 wickets with 4 overs left. Oxfordshire were still in control and completed an excellent run chase as Granby and Mobbland took them past Wiltshire’s score with 158 for 3 wickets with 1 over left. Granby carrying his bat for an excellent 58 not out.
A disappointing loss for the Wiltshire team but the overall standard of cricket shown throughout the 80 overs was of credit to both teams. Jake Goodwin’s inning showed the quality and power of his batting and the game served to show to the Wiltshire team the areas of our game for further development during the summer that we will be working on.
Paul Draper
31st May 2010
Wiltshire Cricket team: Sam Arnold, Oliver Dawe-Lane, Jake Goodwin, Sam Julyan, Ben Draper, Stan Alsop, Josh Hodder, Adam Thompson, Robert Horn, Ben Smith, Fraser Gordon and James Webb.
Scorer: Lesley Morgan
Wiltshire Under 12s v Cardiff and Vale Under 12s - Sunday 23rd May @ St Fagans CC
Wiltshire Cricket Under 12 squad played the first of their County friendly fixtures against Cardiff & Vale at the beautiful and sun drenched St. Fagans Cricket Club on Sunday 23rd May 2010.
Cardiff & Vale gained an early advantage by winning the toss and electing to bat. It looked a good wicket and perfect batting conditions with the sun and heat going to be challenging factors for the Wiltshire team as they played this longer format game.
Cardiff & Vale started cautiously against the opening attack of Ben Smith and Robert Horn, who bowled with good control but were not able to gain the first breakthrough. Cardiff & Vale moved their score onto 33 before Wiltshire got the first wicket. Adam Thompson was bowling a economic spell when Hatwby hit the ball high to the mid-wicket area and Fraser Gordon took an excellent running, one hand catch above his head. This wicket seemed to settle the Wiltshire team and all the bowlers settled into a productive spell for the team.
The second wicket followed with the score on 45 with the run out of Pathmanathad. A mix up with the Cardiff & Vale batsmen offered Thompson the opportunity and he returned an excellent throw to Ben Draper to complete a simple run out. Two more wickets quickly followed, off spinner Fraser Gordon enticing Van Os into a loose shot and captain Jake Goodwin bowling Mills.
Wiltshire were bowling and fielding with some confidence and picked up the 5th Cardiff & Vale wicket with the score at 60. Josh Hodder taking a confident return catch off his bowling.
Cardiff & Vale needed a solid partnership and this was built steady through Kamaraj and Edwards. They run well and took advantage of a few loose Wiltshire deliveries to full effect and move the score along to 114 with a partnership of 54 for the 6th wicket before Edwards was caught by Jake Goodwin off the returning Robert Horn. The run rate had been kept under control by the Wiltshire bowling and fielding effort but the heat was starting to its toll on the boys as a few fielding errors were creeping into play.
Kamaraj, again, made full use of the time he had at the crease and increased the scoring rate in the latter overs of the Cardiff & Vale innings to complete his 50, a composed innings, before being run out by wicketkeeper Ben Draper off the final ball of the Cardiff & Vale innings. Cardiff & Vale finished on a competitive 146 for 7 wickets off 40 overs. All the Wiltshire bowlers contributed to solid first half display.
Wiltshire started with Sam Arnold and Oliver Dawe-Lane opening the reply to the Cardiff & Vale total. Wiltshire lost an early wicket with Oliver Dawe-Lane being bowled by Pike and that brought together captain Jake Goodwin with Sam Arnold. Their partner
