Last ball drama.....

Last night the U13 team took on Burnage in the Wiltshire Semi-Final of the ECB Vitality U13 National Club Championship at the Swindon County Ground, which ended with some last ball drama!

Early in the evening Burbage won the toss and elected to bat. The Swindon bowlers made it difficult for their counterparts to score and chipped away with regular wickets, reducing Burbage to 36-3 then 58-4, as Oli Staff picked up the wicket of top scorer Pearson. From here the batsmen were able to build and accelerate as Locking and Lang put bat to ball hitting four fours each. Rhys Baker came back to break the partnership before the innings finished on 94-6 off 20 overs. William Jordan bowled a particularly tight spell of 4-1-8-2 and it was of note that the young SCC bowlers only gave away three extras during the whole innings.

In reply Swindon lost Tiwari for 4 early in the chase before the impressive Finlay Hobson (31 retired) and Shubham Marathe (25) nudged patiently towards the winning total of 95. The loss of Rhys Baker for one and Rakesh Savalapu for 14 with 17 still required put the nerves into the team. Some tight Burbage bowling restricted scoring as the game nudged towards a tight finish. With one ball left SCC still required three runs in order to tie scores and progress on the basis of losing less wickets. The ball was bowled and hit towards the square leg fielder, two runs were taken and then all of a sudden there was a chance of overthrows - Oli Staff and Will Jordan ran between the stumps as fast as they could and before you knew what had happened SCC had won the game outright (95-4) sparking wild scenes on the pitch and around the boundary. Credit must be given to Bear Makin who bowled 4-1-10-0 and Oscar Harrison who picked up 1 wicket for 12 runs, although Burbage may run the 10 extras bowled compared to the three by SCC.

Thanks must go to our grounds team and all the volunteers who helped get the game on and to all the parents for ferrying children around the County on a school night. We wish Burbage all the best for the rest of the season and look forward to finding out who we will face in the Wilts County Final.