On Wednesday 23rd June our U13 team were hosted by Stowmarket CC for our ECB County Cup T20 semi-final. Stowmarket won the toss and elected to field. A strong start by Hadleigh’s batters got us off to a flyer, not losing our first wicket until the 12th over and reaching 88 runs. Some very tight bowling particularly from Stowmarket’s spinners pegged back our run rate, with Hadleigh finishing their 20 overs on 118-3. Notable contributions came from our openers Toby Tombs (33) and Jack Auld (30) – who both retired not out; Euan Wilson-Downes (23) and Henrietta Stenning (10no). Then it was our turn to bowl and Stowmarket got off to an equally strong start, making 37-1 off their first 4 overs. However, the Hadleigh bowlers stuck to their task and continued to ramp up the pressure, giving no free runs to the opposition bowling just 1 wide and 1 no-ball in the entire innings. Wickets started to fall with increasing frequency as Hadleigh targeted the off-stump and gave their batters no room for error. The final wicket falling with 2 balls left in the 14th over and a final score of 68, with five batters failing to get off the mark. Notable contributions came from Henrietta Stenning, taking 4 wickets (3 in one over) for 1 run in 2 overs and Immy Bennett, taking 2 wickets for 5 runs in 2 overs. However, all of our bowlers and fielders played their part in putting the Stowmarket batters under pressure with just two making double digits.

The future of Hadleigh Cricket Club is clearly in safe hands, as these five young women and six young men delivered with both the bat and ball in hand, which was equally matched and complemented by astute, focused fielding.

All in all a truly excellent all round team effort!

Our final is hopefully next week at home against Copdock and whatever the result, the U13s should be rightly proud of themselves! Please come down to the ground to support the future of Hadleigh Cricket Club.