Sunday 11th June saw Merrow U10s take on Horsley & Send (H&S) U10 in a local derby. With the weather set fair and a team mixing experience and new, H&S won the toss and took the decision to ask us to bat. Barney & Adam got Merrow underway against some accurate bowling restricting us to only a couple of runs for the first 3 overs. Pressure was released by good batting from Barney in the last over. A net gain of 16. Dylan and Adam in next, again taking runs where possible, including a couple of fours for Adam. Net gain 9. Oliver (great classic driving) and Jaime benefited from some wayward H&S bowling and scampering a few singles - net gain 12. Toby & Ben were a little tentative at times, missing a couple of sneaky singles, but Ben taking 7 runs off the last over - net gain 19. Ethan and Tom were in as last pair and managed to take the score to 284 of our allotted overs maximising byes and a couple of fours. A good batting performance against a team with some accurate bowlers.

H&S response started positively, but tight deliveries from Ethan and Dylan - with 4 wickets in his two overs - restricted the progress. Great efforts from Adam and Ben, and Jaime and Oliver (no cooking puns please) saw H&S progress to 261 after 12 overs. After changing keepers from Barney to Dylan, Merrow CC tried to squeeze H&S to minimise scoring opportunities. H&S were clever in stealing singles where they could, and after 16 overs, H&S were on 279. But Barney and Ajay restricted the H&S score to only net 2 positive runs, so Merrow got their noses over the line by 3 runs. Regular wickets helped peg H&S back, and show how good this format is.

It was a great team effort. Toby B contributed with excellent fielding to enable 3 run outs with accurate throwing. Adam was a ball magnet with his stopping at least 3 fours with brave fielding. Tom P was great in his first game and clearly very keen to bowl. Backing up was good as ever. Beating a local rival as H&S is a good effort as they have a strong base.

There is plenty to work on - stealing singles, backing up, throwing in more accurately along with bowling practice. We will keep looking at these throughout the season. The boys are now far more comfortable with pads and all the gear, and we are making progress as a unit.

Some off the field thank yous - Matt H for pre match set up, Natalie for food and beverages, and Ray for scoring. And Sam B for turning up to support and keep everyone enthused.

Well done boys (& parents).