Accrington Cricket Club

Under 11s, cup
Darwen v Accrington
Friday June 7th 2002

Manager's report by Saf Ali
We arrived at the Lower Darwen ground in plenty of time, only to find a pitch more suitable for motor bike scrambling. The square was fine, but the outfield was uncut and full of dog 'do do'. This may have been due to the pack of dogs we were greeted by, 6 in total. (This is not excuse making, but just trying to paint the picture!!).

The game
We lost the toss, and the Darwen skipper put us into bat. We opened with Simon Hanson and Callum Ali. Both started well with some good defensive batting against some quick Darwen bowling. The pair finished on 6, Simon scoring 6 and Callum losing one life, edging one to the keeper.

The next pair to bat were Matty Schofield and Marley Ali. The pair also scored 6 runs, finishing on 3 a piece. They also lost one life each.

The 3rd pair of Johnny Hayhurst and Jake Clarke put on 7 runs, Johnny scoring 6 and Jake scoring 1. They also lost one wicket, Johnny Hayhurst.

The last pair, Josh Armstrong and Jake Shepherd came in an did very well against the bowlers, putting on 19 runs, Jake 16 and Josh 3. Josh Armstrong also lost 2 lives. Jake also finished the innings with two excellent 4's.

I have to say that even though the scorecard reads that we lost by 44 runs, we actually scored 20 runs less than Darwen. The Accrington players performed fantastically, against an excellent well prepared Darwen 'A' team, which consisted of a couple of Lancashire players, including the Lancashire wicket keeper, who performed brilliantly. He also had the chance to run out Jake Clarke who had fallen whilst chasing a single, but actually chose not to stump him. Excellent jesture from this young man.

All our boys were brilliant, all supported each well and remained positive right down to the last over, when Jake Shepherd reminded everybody that we only needed 6 wickets off 6 balls to win.

I mentioned at the start of this report the state of the pitch, but I must mention that this ground is run by the local authority and NOT Darwen Cricket Club. It was also the same conditions for both teams, so definitely no excuses.

Conclusion
We lost by 44 runs but, performed brilliantly.