New Forest District U13 Festival Reports May/June 2010 

Date: Monday 31^st May                                  Venue: Alton

New Forest 153 all out off 44.5 overs

North Hants 156 for 4 off 36.5 overs

The New Forest U13 XI started their campaign with a tough fixture against a strong North Hants side, unbeaten in Festival games for the last 4 years.  New Forest did well to bat out their overs, but were always short of the run rate and total they would have wanted. Will Entwisle and captain Will Crossley did a good job seeing off the opening bowling spell, but found runs hard to come by on a huge outfield. The fall of the first wicket brought Luke Evans to the crease to eventually score an excellent 56 as wickets fell around him, chasing the run rate. Mike Donovan contributed 12 and Tom Loseby 14 from just 13 deliveries.  Extras totalling 31 runs helped the total with the bat, with the umpires being particularly strict on wide or leg side deliveries. 

In reply North Hants had the benefit of a quicker outfield and less bounce in the pitch for the bowlers and set about their task in determined fashion.  Tom Loseby raised New Forest hopes with a wicket with his second delivery in the first over but Matt Thomas then led the way with a well crafted 78 before he was bowled by Sam Long.    North Hants reached the required total with 8 overs to spare with the only other wickets falling to Joe Welch and Pete Newman (3-1-3-1).  Joe Quigley and Oscar Darlington both took catches.  Extras contributed a further 29 runs.

Date: Tuesday 1^st June                                  Venue: Alton 

New Forest  v South East Hants   NO PLAY – RAIN

Date: Wednesday 2^nd June                            Venue: Alton 

Winchester 119 all out off 40.5 overs

New Forest 120 for 3 off 34.4 overs

Winchester District batted first and some tidy bowling by New Forest saw wickets fall with regularity.  Tom Loseby bowled an excellent opening spell and came back to finish with figures of 9-2-12-2.  Other wicket takers were Joe Welch 7.5- 2-20-3, Conor Moors 4-0-20-2, Will Entwisle 4-2-7-1, and Chris Haining. Catches were taken by Shaun Rouse (2), Joe Quigley and Luke Evans.  Extras were 15.

In reply Will Entwisle and Will Crossley of New Forest again saw off the opening bowlers, but with a much better run rate than Monday.  The first wicket fell with the score on 27 and Will Entwisle was eventually out on 33. A third quick wicket brought Shaun Rouse to the crease, who finished on14 not out and was there at the finish with Luke Evans, 56 not out. Their fourth wicket partnership of 50 saw New Forest claim their first Festival victory of the season with 7 wickets and 10 overs to spare. Extras were 9.

Summary

Whilst there was a stand out performance with the bat on both days by Luke Evans, scoring two fifties, both games showed how Far New Forest has come as a team since 2009. Under the leadership of captain Will Crossley and direction of coach Lee Moors there is fresh endeavour and a strong discipline to the team which is encouraging and should serve the boys well as we head into the rest of 2010. All the team without exception, deserve credit for the role they played for making these games such a success, winning or losing.