U11s, U12s, and U13s - half term report

The junior teams have reached the half way mark of their respective competitions and now have a week off during the half term break.

The Under 11s are first in the League by 8 points ahead of Ealing and still in the Cup. Great performances so far this year form Henry Turner, Sam Francombe, Luke Shenley and Tayyab Mailk.

The Under 12s are first in the League by 14 points ahead of Ealing and 16 ahead of Shepherds Bush. There is no Cup for the under 12s. This is basically the Under 11s side with the addition of three Under 12s, two of whom being Louis Bonetti and Ed Bennet. It’s a very strong side.

The Under 13s are unfortunately out of the Cup but first in the League by 8 points but with Ealing A and B and Shepherds Bush also in the hunt for the title. Again, this is a team which is made up of all our boys no matter what the age with Sam Francombe (our Middlesex under 10), Tayyab Malik and Henry Turner (both Borough reps at Under 11) playing in some games and not being fazed in the slightest.

The boys have not lost a League game all year and the overall record is W12 L1 A2.

Thank you to everyone who helps and supports, especially Kash Malik and Mark Shenley, who are both a great help on game day and form part of the brains trust; Andy Francombe, who runs the Teamer App, and Mike Turner, our scorer. All the support we get from the seniors is such a big part of what makes us who we are at this level – please keep it up. Also Vish, Ads, Dan, Kash, Robin and Gerry who have helped at training. John Reeve as always is in the background giving out useful tips and encouragement.

A big part of this year so far – and something that takes the stress away – has been our groundsman, Ian Reeve. The junior wicket is always prepared to perfection and his organisation on game day is second to none.

Thanks to all!

I do want to mention a few new players. We have picked up some players this year, four of whom have added great depth to our performances. Firstly, Tayyab Malik (Kash’s son) who got 4 games at Ealing last year and has already played 13 games with us. He is an allrounder who performs well in all three disciplines in all three age groups. Dan Freeman, who opens the batting with Huzaifer in the 13s, performing the designated role of batting through the innings and getting H on strike (we got him in the transfer market for that exact role). Together, Dan and Huzaifar have scored two century partnerships with this season so far. Louis Bonetti, our NZ overseas, has great cricket intelligence -  pinching singles all the time, hitting 4s at ease to anything on the onside, bowling Chinamans and fielding in the outfield stopping 4s and rocketing balls into the keeper. Lastly, Aiden Hincks who is again a great fielder, can bat but is probably the fastest 11 year old bowler I have seen. We are now getting his radar right.