2009: Season Roundup   [Statistics]       Won 2, Lost 4, Abandoned 2.

Under 17 cricket is generally of a higher standard than the lower levels of the Cherwell league, and the 20/20 format provides a more intense form of the game than league cricket enabling players to experience some high pressure situations. Cumnor CC have few players within the age group and so these games enable us to give younger players the chance to play at a higher level. The league games are scheduled late July and August , after the school exam season ends, meaning that players are off on holiday, which adds to the difficulties in assembling a team !

We had 5 league games scheduled, to which we added 3 friendlies. Two of these were cancelled through weather, and we won 2 of the 6 games played.

 In the opening match against Oxford CC we tried out the Duke ball, which swung wildly, contributing to the 40 wides we bowled as Oxford reached 151. Two early wickets set us back before a fine partnership of 78 by 13 year old Miles Hammond [52] and Alex Kidd [39 off 25 balls] got us to within 13 runs of the target.

Next up was Dorchester where we took to the field with just 9 players . Dorchester rattled up 137 of 20 overs. Again we lost early wickets through lack of application by some experienced players , slumping to 36 for 6 before a 50 partnership between Jack Miell [30] and John McNamara [21] avoided humiliation and we finished 21 runs short.

Next game was our opening league match at Didcot. Winning the toss and batting first is always our preference and Jack Metcalfe smashed 4 sixes reaching 74 not out as we totalled 165 for 2. Ed Down's opening spell of 4 for 9 ended Didcot's challenge and they crawled to 103 for 7.

At East Oxford we again lost the toss and fielded first. E Oxford raced to 48 from six overs before a fine spell from Dan James [ 4 for 8] held them to 113 all out. Our innings never got going. Jack Metcalfe was given out bat before wicket [!] and wickets fell cheaply as batsmen tried to cope with looking directly into the setting sun. We were bowled out for just 60, and left the ground in near darkness with street lights and car headlights already on !

Next was a home game against Chalgrove. We won the toss, batted and scored 161 for 5, built around a first wicket partnership of 121 off 78 balls between James Lee [28] and Jack Metcalfe [84]. Chalgrove were never up with the run rate, and finished on 85 for 9, with 12 year old Dan West taking 4 for 17.

 Final match was the league game at Dorchester. With just 5 players available in the correct age group we had a very young side. 14 year old Pierre DuPlessis and Ben Madden bowled excellent early spells reducing Dorchester to 12 for 4 off 6 overs, before one of their batsmen scored 110 not out as we gave our young players the opportunity to bowl. 13 year old max Robson produced figures of 1 for 14 in the midst of this onslaught which left a total of 141... 65 coming from 4 very expensive overs. Chasing a big score we started well getting to 66 off ten overs before wickets started to fall and our young team lacked the hitting power to keep up with the run rate, finishing on 91 with everyone having the chance to bat.

Overall we probably didn't perform as well as we should have done. The Oxford game was lost because we conceded 40 wides, too few fielders and shocking batting lost the first game against Dorchester. We were too heavily dependent on one batsman to achieve the high scores needed in these games: and found it difficult to pace an innings when chasing a big score. But when we had a full team out and played our best we proved we could be a match for anyone, and there were some outstanding individual performances from a number of players.

Fixtures 2010

Under 17 matches;

June 21 Oxford [h]

June 28 O&B Nondies [a]

Jul 5  Horspath  [h]

Jul 12  Minster lovell [H] tbc

Jul 19  Combe [a]

Jul 26  Kennington [h]

Aug  1  Nicester +NO [a]