Are coaches supposed to suffer from constant heart palpitations? Is this the kind of thing that always happens? I’m not sure, and it doesn’t help when you have no idea of the score. But simply put, the Albion Park Eagles Under 11 Gold team took on Jamberoo at the picaresque Keith Irvine Mini Oval this morning, and the match was filled with magical, comical and exasperating moments.
First time captain Bodhie Rodda won the toss and elected to bat on a muggy morning, and the Park team changed the batting order around slightly to see how everyone would play in a different position. It was another solid opening from Charlotte Rodda and Max Sciberras who saw off the opening overs without losing a wicket in their partnership. Charlotte held her wicket intact once again, and once she learns to get that pull shot in order she will be scoring plenty of runs. Josh Peters came in at three, and promptly called Max through for a single, but an excellent piece of fielding from the Jamberoo fieldsman saw a direct hit and leaving Max about five metres short of his ground. Max played well again today, and just needs to work on getting his front foot to the ball to improve his run output. He finished with 2 runs today. Kane Rex joined Josh, and both took a liking to the short leg side boundary. Josh hit a six and a four in his 17, while Kane hit the ball particularly nicely today, with two boundaries in his 13. Both need to realise there is an OFF side to the cricket field.
Bodhie hit a terrific boundary with his favourite pull shot and was a little unlucky to bowled by one of the best balls of the innings. He ran hard when prodded and was excellent in both of his partnerships. His 6 runs was an important innings in the middle order. Lucas Brown played well with Bodhie, and only through trying to hit the ball too hard did he fail to capitalise on scoring more runs in his innings. He finished on 9 with one boundary but will feel as though he left a few out there. However, he was basically the running partner for last batsman Blake Ison in the final three overs, and his efforts there with his good calling and running between the wickets should not be overlooked. Well done Lucas. Blake himself played extremely well, hitting three boundaries and a six in his innings of 30, his highest score. He played the ball for the most part along the ground, and only failed to score more runs by not utilising the off side more. Despite this, it was a very good innings once again from Blake.
After their twenty overs, Albion Park had lost only two wickets – a season’s best effort – while scoring 113 runs – a season’s best – with 77 of those runs coming off the bat – a season’s best. Well done Gold Eagles! All this was achieved against a Jamberoo side that was fabulous in the field, with a number of stunning efforts by their players, and some good straight bowling.
Fielding has been the focus for the Gold team in recent weeks, and today it was shown once again to be the winning of the game for them. In the very first over, with five runs already on the board, a straight drive went to Bodhie at mid-off, and his return to Lucas at the bowlers end was straight and true, and Lucas lifted the bails for a run out. The jubilation of the team as they ran to Bodhie to celebrate his effort was terrific. Three overs later a ball was hit to mid-wicket where Lucas was fielding. He was at the ball quickly, looked up, and summed up the situation perfectly, picking the right end to throw to (the keepers end) where Blake took the ball and the stumps with the batsman meters short of his ground. Superb from the boys, just as they have been training for. The following over Lucas was at it again, getting the ball to the bowler Kane who had done well to get back to the stumps to take the return. The throw was not the best and it looked as though the chance had been lost, but the ball bounced off Kane’s hand and fortuitously fell on to the stumps to pull off the third run out of the innings. In the same over Kane’s straight bowling brought him another wicket for his season’s tally. This was followed up by Lucas in the following over with a straight full ball. It was excellent all round form the Eagles. Two overs later Charlotte again beat the batsman to comprehensively bowl him, and in seven over the Eagles kids had picked up six wickets. It was inspirational stuff.
The wickets dried up, but the bowling was tight and kept a close rein on the Jamberoo scoring. It wasn’t until the last batting pair were at the crease that the scoring took over, with some lovely shots by both batsmen finding the boundary regularly. While attempting quicker singles, the batsmen found themselves short to yet another super piece of fielding by Lucas, whose direct hit at the bowlers end found them short by inches. It was a super day in the field by Lucas, with a hand in three separate run outs. In the same over the batsman skied a ball to leg, where earlier Josh had dropped a chance that was going at some pace. This one swirled over his head as he ran backwards, but he never took his eye off the ball, and he held on to the tough chance over his left shoulder. More ticks for the fielding practice on Wednesdays.
There was entertainment and fireworks still to come though. Lucas bowled the penultimate over to the young Jamberoo left hander and was swatted for three boundaries and three singles in the over. Each ball he was implored by his coach to pitch the ball right up to the bat, but each ball just seemed to get shorter, and found its way to the boundary faster. To his credit, Lucas never dropped his head and kept a grin on his face. Good stuff Lucas. Blake was asked to bowl the final over, even though he had done about 10 kilometres running in the field for the left/right hand combination, and despite going for two boundaries he bowled a beauty, pulling off a run out at the bowlers end as the batsmen tried to sneak a second run, and also picking up a caught and bowled off the final delivery. It had been an entertaining innings from the two young Jamberoo batsmen, terrific stuff, and an important lesson for the Eagles kids that when things aren’t going your way, you have to find a way to combat it. Which they did very well under the circumstances.
After their twenty overs, Jamberoo had lost ten wickets while scoring 88 runs, with 62 of those off the bat.
Once the bowling penalties had been added the Eagles had run out winners by 153 to 96.
Lucas and Blake, despite getting some tap in the last two overs, were good once again, but just need to be fuller and straighter with the ball. Lucas finished with 1/26 from three overs, and Blake with 2/16 from three overs. Kane and Josh were their economical selves, Kane taking 1/9 from three overs and Josh 0/6 from three overs. Charlotte was again very good today, taking 1/14 from three overs, and has now taken at least one wicket every match for five games in a row. Super stuff from Charlotte!
Today though was about Max and Bodhie. Max bowled his best spell for some weeks, conceding only seven runs from his two overs and was very unfortunate not to pick up at least one wicket, with the ball beating the stumps by a coat of varnish, and also getting two edges that didn’t carry to the keeper. He also kept very well today. Well done Max. Bodhie must have felt as though he had captaincy responsibilities today. He batted well, and fielded well as already noted, but his bowling was great. He bowled two overs for 0/7, and with only four no-balls – Bodhie’s best ever effort. It was terrific to watch, and the beaming smile after the match was the highlight of the day. Well done Bodhie, great to see!
These kids continue to amaze, and their improvement and efforts every single week are a joy to behold. Seeing and hearing their parents support on the boundary is also fantastic, and it is a pleasure to come together every Saturday to be a part of it. With four games to go, the Golds are looking to make it as hard for those teams above them in the coming weeks. All of the teams looking to finish first in the Under 11 A competition have to play the Albion Park Golds in the final rounds and will have to beat them to do it. I can assure you that will be a very tough ask for those other teams.
