U15's suffer defeat on a stormy evening

The Under 15's travelled to Billing Road on Wednesday evening to face a strong ON's side with hopes of maintaining their unbeaten start to the shortened league season. After winning the toss, ON's decided to bat and lost a wicket in the 3rd over as Joel Jacob was well caught by Jake Carter off the bowling of George Pitt. This brought Reuben Singh to the wicket to join Jamie Dunk. The opening 3 bowlers contained the batsmen well but after the first hand sanitiser break, the ON's pair cut loose as Captain Honor Austin rotated her attack to give everyone an opportunity of a bowl. The sky darkened, the lightning flashed and the thunder grew louder as the ball disappeared to the boundary with increasing regularity. A persistent drizzle failed to trouble the batsmen, who made hay as the sun didn't shine, whilst the scorers struggled to cope with soggy score sheets. Both Dunk and Singh duly made half centuries before retiring and this partnership took the game away from Horton. It was also Dunk's second 50 against Horton in a matter of days. With the introduction of new batsmen and the return of the opening bowlers the run rate finally slowed as the ON's innings drew to a close. A catch by Miles Orton resulted in another wicket for George Pitt and there was an excellent caught and bowled by James Dadge off a steepler. A run out off the last ball of the innings left ON's with a score of 158 for 4 from their 20 overs. A challenging target for the Horton team.

When Horton batted, they endured a difficult start and at 5 for 2 after 2 overs, Harvey Cooke and Honor Austin set about patiently rebuilding the innings to give the score some respectability. Both players made some good shots during their partnership of 58 before Cooke was out for a solid 26. As the required run rate increased to in excess of 10 an over, Horton's best chance of avoiding defeat lay with the weather. However, the lightning stopped, the thunder rolled away and the threatened thunderstorm evaded the Billing Road ground. Even the drizzle ceased and all that remained was the gathering gloom as Horton finished their 20 overs on 75 for 4 with Austin not out on 23. A disappointing performance to match a dreary night.