Under 11's Go Into Battle Against Tattenhall

Wednesday the 19th April 2017 saw the start of the newly monikered Middlewich Mavericks under 11’s Cheshire West cricket campaign.
The league’s decision to inexplicably place Middlewich in the West side of the competition without any consultation had initially led to much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth by coaches and parents alike. Arrival at Tattenhalls excellent facilities and backdrop however, saw all the original angst and anger melt away and everyone agreed to let bygones be bygones and to let the Mavericks do their talking on the field of play.
As the Americans like to say, ‘Stuff* had just got real’. *real phrase unsuitable for this match report.
The gods of weather decided to look down kindly on event and at exactly 18:00 hours, or as near to it as I remember, a coin was tossed that signalled the beginning of our season.
The toss was won by Middlewich and Captain Lewis Turner immediately decided that with light threatening to fade within the next couple of hours, the build of dew on the outfield and the hope that the ball might start to swing and seam towards the end of the game, batting first was the only sensible option to take. Or maybe it was just the first thing that came into his mind?
Middlewich began to pad up for the off and Tattenhall began their fielding drills ready for the battle that was about to ensue.
At 18:05 and 14 seconds precisely, Captain Lewis Turner and Frazer Sumner strode out of the away dressing room with the dulcet tones of Coach Lee Turner still ringing in their ears. Something along the lines of, ‘Play your shots, don’t get out, don’t embarrass me or Craig, nothing but perfection will do, your future careers are built on moments like these oh and yeah try to have a good time… no pressure’.
The pre-game ‘pep talk’ clearly had a substantial effect on the plucky openers as took to the field like boys possessed. Shots were played and Captain Turner had a mad 2 minutes where he put the Tattenhall bowling to the sword hitting four boundaries in four successive shots. The two ran well and complemented each other finally returning back to the hutch having accumulated 25 runs. Lewis Turner top scored for the innings with a sensible 22 runs.
Next out to bat were Jack Walters and Oscar Green which saw the pair play some nice defensive shots to some tight Tattenhall bowling and by the end of their innings the Mavericks had a gross score of 28 runs off the bat.
Numbers 5 and 6 came out to bat in the guise of Oakley Maddocks and Will Egerton to bring some experience to the wicket and the two batted nicely together. Oakley hit a lovely pull shot for four runs and after four overs of the Maddocks and Egerton show, Middlewich were a healthy 38 runs off the bat alone.
Next stepped up Evan Turner and Liam Clorley to bring some youth and exuberance to the innings. Having been partnered many times for the Spartans, the two ran well between the wickets before Evan punished a rare full toss by larruping it over the deep mid-wicket boundary for a maximum. By the time 9 and 10 came into bat runs off the bat had increased to 53.
Last but by no means least saw Aiden Clorley and Liam Walker stride out purposefully to the middle to do battle with the Tattenhall attack. As we knew they could and would, the two played their shots confidently and with purpose that saw Liam crack a lovely four runs and Middlewich close their innings for 92 gross runs with the loss of only 5 wickets. This brought the net total to a healthy 62 runs that the Mavericks believed they could defend.
After juice and biscuits the boys from salt town took to the field to defend their hard earned total with a mixture of excitement frivolity that only comes with youth and alcohol. (Not together mind)
Middlewich’s own Liam Clorley opened the bowling and after taking two wickets with the first three balls Tattenhall were left wondering what they were feeding the boys from Haddon Field. With Evan Turner taking two wickets in the last two balls of his second over, Middlewich had Tattenhall firmly on the ropes. All in attendance agreed, if this was a boxing match it would have been stopped long ago. Aiden Clorley bowled some beautiful lines to take a couple of wickets himself and with Oscar grabbing a brace of wickets with some decent bowling and Jack adding another to the tally that only left a sharp run out between the Turner cousins and a final caught and bowled from Evan in the dying light to ram the victory home once and for all.
Tattenhall finished with a total of 61 gross runs with the loss of 11 wickets. A net total of 6 runs saw the Mavericks earn their first win of the season.
The boys were congratulated by coaches and family alike and Liam Clorley was crowned man of the match for an all-round decent performance. But for the fact that one of the coaches (who shall remain nameless) forgot the man of the trophy the evening had gone off flawlessly.

Well Done Mavericks,

Keep up the good work,

Lee and Craig.