Under 11s With Two Games In Three Days

Seaford undone by Herstmonceux Hat-Trick

On Friday 12th July, Seaford Under 11's travelled to Herstmonceux on a beautiful summer's evening. On the back of two straight victories, confidence was high but some excellent line and length bowling by the Herstmonceux bowlers, including a superb hat-trick of clean bowled wickets for one individual, proved to be too costly for the Seaford side as Herstmonceux ran out winners by 41 runs.

Captain for the day Yusef won the toss and elected to bowl first with Elliott and Henry keeping things tight from the off. The bowlers were bowling well, the fielders were fielding well and everything looked good in the Seaford camp. Each of the Seaford bowlers did a job with Adam proving to be an excellent choice of Wicket Keeper yet again with some excellent stops, mostly with his helmet. Special mention to Charlie for an excellent spell including a clean bowled wicket, a good two over spell also for Frankie who also picked up a clean bowled wicket but bowler of the innings was Finley. After experimenting in the warm up with a new unique style, he was persuaded not to adopt this approach and chose instead to keep things simple. This paid dividends with a very tight three over spell including one clean bowled wicket and an impressive last over bowling no wides when the pressure was on. The last Herstmonceux pairing added a flurry of runs to the scoreboard which meant they closed on 275-3.

A team talk in the changing rooms from skipper Yusef rallied the troops but it was not a good start for the Seaford team. An early run out and another early wicket loss meant they were chasing their tails. The opening pairing of Charlie and Yusef were resilient and with confidence brought a few runs. Charlie especially, impressing again as he added 12 personal runs to the team tally. Finley and Sammy were next up and a wicket loss a-piece early put Seaford on the back foot. They too, rallied after the early set back with Sammy hitting some leg side boundaries and Finley getting to grips after a slow start. Big hitters Henry and Adam were next to the crease and yet again, two early wickets for each of this pairing made things hard. Henry added 11 personal runs and Adam was quick between the wickets but it seemed the runs Seaford were scoring was just making up for the wickets lost. To the crease next was final pairing Elliot and Frankie. It was during this pairs innings that the Herstmonceux bowler provided something special which was the signal the end for Seaford. Three wickets in three balls, all clean bowled meant a hat-trick for the politest cricket player I have ever come across (he apologised and shook hands each time he got someone out!!). The Herstmonceux fans were going crazy with excitement as the Seaford heads dropped and the innings closed on 234 having lost 11 (yes eleven) wickets. Runs off the bat, the scores were similar between the two teams but it was the amount of wickets lost that proved costly.

A lesson learnt for the Seaford players who have now played 4, won 2 and lost 2 but with no time to dwell, arch rivals Glynde coming visiting for an early start on Sunday 14th July as the Seaford players look to get back to winning ways.

Under 11's Bounce Back with convincing victory over Glynde

Sunday 14th July saw Seaford Under 11's respond from Friday nights defeat at Herstmonceux to come out convincing winners by 39 runs against local rivals Glynde.

Skipper for the day Adam won the toss and elected to field first on a bright sunny and early Sunday morning. Seaford continued from Friday's impressive fielding display with Yusef taking the new ball and keeping things tight early on. Fellow opening bowler Henry also looked in good form and managed to pick up two early wickets by clean bowling Glynde batsmen to put Seaford in control. Finley, Charlie and George all bowled their two overs in a controlled fashion which was impressive for the home supporters. Frankie put in a good display, also picking up two wickets and the camaraderie amongst the Seaford players when taking a wicket was really positive to see. Adam was once again putting in a great spell as wicket keeper and his helmet was receiving more dents as he often threw himself head first into his fielding, obviously the rugby player in him coming through. Pace bowler Harvey coming off his extra long run up, managed to bowl around the wicket with precision and was rewarded with not only a tight two over spell but also an impressive clean bowled wicket to his name. Glynde pushed hard towards the end and their score of 252 - 5 was a good target, especially knowing Seaford's frailties in the batting order.

A midgame pep talk by skipper Adam got Seaford thinking straight. Order of the day was to bat sensibly, not to throw away their wicket and not to try to hit the ball into the sea. Finley and George got things off to a steady start with neither batsmen losing their wicket whilst picking up some sensible singles and a fine leg side glance by George for four. Adam and Yusef were next up and once again, put in a good display of sensible batting. Yusef hit a fine boundary and Adam's calling and running proving to be pivotal. Henry and Frankie were next up and these two needed to remember what the order of the day was. Henry started trying to hit the ball into space before calming down and Frankie followed a fine four by trying to smash the ball which resulted in him getting bowled and Seaford had lost their first wicket of the day. Both these players got their heads together and more boundaries flowed setting Seaford up nicely by going in to the final four overs knowing victory was in sight. Harvey and Charlie were next up and an early Charlie single put Harvey on strike who's first ball was mis-timed and his middle stump sent flying. After that setback, it was all Seaford and the boundaries and running were flowing. Cover drives, leg shots pulls, chips over the in-field, this pairing certainly put on a final flourish for the crowd to enjoy and it resulted in Seaford ending their innings on 291 whilst only losing two wickets.

A 39 run victory and now three wins out of five mean a trip to Pevensey and a potential trip to Buxted Park are mouth watering games no-one wants to miss.

Author: Paul Mason