U11 Rockets v Old Northamptonians U11

Denton Rd could not have looked better as we welcomed our rivals ONs. The small matter of 2nd versus 1st with a chance for Rockets to take over top spot. Captain for the day Harry, lost the toss and the decision for them to bat first was unsurprising. Despite the anticipation of some hot overs in the field, you could sense the determination from the players already, they were up for this!

Harry decided to rotate his bowlers to match the batter’s ability so opened with Alex and Jeremy. They both bowled some great lines and restricted the ONs opening pair to just 21 runs. Both were unlucky to not get wickets but got us off to a great start in the field. Up stepped Ethan and Jacob with Ethan striking with his first delivery. Jacob got 2 more wickets and ONs were restricted to just 17 runs. Excellent stuff. Noah and Sam were next up with Sam bowling a double wicket maiden! 2 cracking, unplayable yorkers were too much for the new batters. Both bowled economically and only conceded 15 runs. Harry had worked out that the strongest pair were last in and decided to bowl his 2 overs against them with Sam and Alex bowling third overs. Yet more economical bowling meant that by the close of the innings, ONs had only managed 94-5. The fielding, backing up and encouragement from all of the team was a pleasure to watch. Great effort from the lads.

Despite a buoyant dressing room, the team talk was about playing sensible cricket. If we focused on respecting the good deliveries and dispatching the bad, we could win the game. They listened! Noah and Joe got us off to a great start, sharing a partnership of 38 without losing a wicket. Jacob and Jeremy added a further 29 runs and the job was as good as done. Harry and Sam batted responsibly adding 28 runs with no loss of wickets and the final pair of Alex and Ethan added a further 32 sensible runs.

This result was brilliant. I know we have a great team and they have all bonded so well but to see them perform like they did under pressure was fantastic to see. I was extremely proud of them all. We’re where we belong at the top of the table with one game to go. Win that and we win the league! Go Rockets!