All smiles at Antwerp – U17s win doubleheader at ACC
Our U17s took on our friends at Antwerp CC in a T20 doubleheader.
First match: Having lost the toss we were put in to bat; the sodden pitch couldn’t slow our batters as both opener Ben and captain Afzal retired on 51. Atharva added 27 as we scored an impressive 174 for the loss of only 2 wickets.
ACC started slowly but accelerated in the middle overs and required only 9 to win from the last over, bowled by Dominic. He held his nerve and took wickets in successive balls (both stumped by Afzal) to lessen the pressure; a hat-trick went begging as a catch was dropped but it was a highly impressive example of death bowling. ACC finished short on 170/7.
Antwerp in October!
Second match: In line with our development philosophy Atharva took over as captain and we rejigged the batting line-up. ACC bowled well but Ben made another unbeaten 50 and Max B scored 21 as we posted 147/6. Again it looked as though ACC would run us close but Max R clean bowled their best batter and that took the steam out of their chase. A tight closing spell from Atharva (3 wickets in total) saw ACC subside to 133/8.
Special thanks go to Hossein for his work as the 12th man, to Antwerp CC for making us so welcome and especially to Manoj and Mike for umpiring.
All smiles at Antwerp
This was another good day out for our U17s, leaving us 3rd in the division, although we still need to work on our game management and our fielding. This squad has played some excellent cricket this year but a combination of factors, some within our control, others not, mean that we just missed out on the play-offs. Nonetheless, it has been a good season with the development of a number of new players and an excellent team spirit. Congratulations to Ben for finishing top of the league batting averages with Atharva and Dom not far behind.
Well played U17s!
The players would like to thank their parents for their support and to Alan for managing the team. See you next season!