Bashley U12 Indoor Squad - Finals Day

Having gone through the regular season unbeaten Bashley arrived at Finals day in confident mood. But their opponents Wimborne & Colehill A had proved tough opposition in the group and it was a surprise to see them coming in as the 4th placed team. The omens looked good with Bashley batting first for the 7th consecutive match and the opening pair of Dan Bailey  and Josh Royan getting the lads off to a flyer. Bailey (44) in particular was in sparkling form with 3 trademark straight drives to the back boundary bringing an early retirement. But consistent bowling from Wimborne & Colehill began to peg Bashley back and when Royan fell just short of retirement to a sharp stumping the battle between bat and ball became a tightly contested affair in the middle overs. Toby Mills played nicely taking the limited opportunities on offer, accompanied by Sam Presland and Joshua Bailey, but there were few extras and limited buffet bowling on offer to help the lads accelerate the run rate. Scott Menary did well to add useful runs at the death in a late flurry with the returning Dan Bailey but 121 looked as if it it might be a tough total to defend.

When the sides changed over Bashley needed a good start and the opening duo of Josh Royan and Joshua Bailey restricted the Wimborne openers in the early going. However it was always likely that the boys were going to have to take wickets to win the match and they proved frustratingly difficult to come by. In previous matches the ball almost seemed magnetically attracted the Bashley fielders but today it seemed to always be a foot one side or the other or the ball would magically go over middle stump rather than catching the bails. Captain Royan marshaled his field inventively and juggled the bowling order to keep Bashley in the game whilst Mills was a reassuring presence behind the stumps. A smart catch by Presland and two run outs gave Bashley an outside chance but ultimately Wimborne just had too much for them on the day reaching the required total with 5 balls to spare.  

Confirmation of how strong a side Wimborne were came just an hour later in the final when they demolished Parley, second semi final winners, for 46 with Wimborne reaching that total without losing a wicket themselves.

The Bashley boys, including Jack Harris and Will Syms who would have come in for the final if we had progressed, have much to be proud of in going unbeaten through the league season and conducting themselves with great skill and spirit. It has been a pleasure to be involved with this team and to have had great support from the parents throughout. I wish all the boys well for the summer season and very much hope we can pick up where we left off again next winter.

 

Report by Graham Presland  

 

 Many thanks to Graham for all his hard work during the indoor season

Coaching Junior Cricket at Bashley:

 

 

We are working hard to develop strong links at Bashley (Rydal) CC between the Senior and Junior Club sections, because we are, at the end of the day, one club. We’ve been really thrilled over the last couple of years with the number of the Senior Bashley players who coach the juniors, and also with the number of older “juniors” who are also helping with the younger juniors and starting out on the coaching pathway.
We believe this strengthens the feeling of “being a club”, but also hugely benefits the junior cricketers with the enthusiasm of the seniors for the club, and puts “names to faces” for the juniors. We hope that this will increase the interest amongst the Junior section to come and watch some seniors in action, and support them in key matches such as T20 cup matches

So, to all those U9s and U11s who marvel at the amazing ‘tricks’ from the coaches during winter training….. did you know that most of them were once Bashley U9s and U11s themselves?

Here are some of them in action... See who you recognise……

                                                                                        

  

 

  

Some-one's first match ever !

( Clues : Josh, Simon, Ryan , Marcus & Tom..... not in that order !)

We are also delighted that 5 of our current U15s and U17s also completed a course for Young Leaders in Cricket in February, and have also been helping out with the Junior training.

So thank you so far to all our coaches and helpers, and we look forward to more fun with them all once the outdoor training starts next week......  (more details to follow)