APJCC Under 13’s: Round 13 vs Kiama Gold at Albion Oval Middle

With the rain chasing them all the way to the finish line, the Albion Park Eagles Under 13’s managed to do enough to gain a good victory over a tenacious Kiama Gold team at Albion Oval this morning.

Kiama won the toss and elected to bat, and found themselves under immediate pressure from the Park bowling. Noah Black was thrown the new ball, and despite two false start no balls then found his length, and enticed the lofted drive to cover where Josh Peters took the catch for the first wicket. He was again economical and finished with ¼ from his two overs. Lucas Brown moved the ball both ways off the seam, and bowled the ball of the day, a perfect yorker on off stump that dismissed the dangerous opening batsman by removing his off stump. Lucas finished up bowling four overs and took 1/1. TJ Nasome bowled with plenty of purpose but just drifted to the leg side a little which cost him a few runs. His two overs finished at 0/12. Ethan Thompson also found the ball on the pads too often, but when he found the right line, he also created a chance, and the catch was taken by Josh again at cover. Ethan would be pleased with his 1/11 from two overs. Ryan Cergovski, apart from a couple of wide deliveries, bowled his best spell of the season, a great length and swinging the ball away from the bat. He was very unfortunate not to pick up a wicket and deserved better than his 0/9 from three overs appears. Tristan Denmeade swapped between his spin and his seam, but it was his seam bowling that was impressive today, causing the batters lots of problems. He finished with 0/8 from three overs and looks to be building nicely towards the end of season games.
Josh Peters once again suffered from not keeping the ball bouncing over the stumps and hitting the pads, but was again economical with his 0/1 from 2 overs. Kasey Barton continues to be a threat with the ball in hand and is often too good for the batters he bowls to. He finished with 2/8 from his 2.4 overs today, which only goes to show the importance of bowling at the stumps. And Aiden Campion bowled a similar line, thus also missing out on possible wickets by being just slightly off the line of the off stump, and finishing with 0/1 from two overs.
The star with the ball today though was Josh Schofield, who after many good spells this season got everything together today. With his beautiful outswinger working overtime even despite the wet ball, he even merited a first slip, which came into play first ball after drinks when he caught the edge which was taken by Kasey. He also found the edge to have the ball skew to Tristan at point for another wicket, and finished it off with another outswinger that started on leg stump and took middle. Josh bowled three overs for brilliant figures of 3/2, and now that he has his bowling line on the stumps rather than outside he is reaping the rewards he deserves. Great job Josh.

Kiama Gold was bowled out for 61, and with the weather closing in it required a pro-active chase from the Albion Park team. Enter Kasey and Aiden, who played positive cricket mixed with good running between the wickets to push the score along. Aiden dominated the strike, and eventually retired on 19 not out. Lucas Brown replaced him, and between he and Kasey they chased down the remaining runs required, finishing on 0/64 from 12 overs. Kasey continued his excellent season by finishing on 23 not out, and Lucas finally had a good hit in the middle, finishing on 12 not out, an innings that better shows his potential with the bat.

Another good win by this young team, but not without a few stumbles in the field again, which only goes to prove that they still haven’t played the perfect game. Let’s hope that comes in five weeks time.
Thanks to Mark Brown for taking on the scorebook today, and thanks to all of the parents, friends and families who showed up to support the team, with special thanks to everyone from the Under 15’s who gave up their morning after their match was washed out. That is a great indicator of what a terrific club Albion Park is building when that kind of spirit and support is shown.