Llamas fall just short despite Will Brewis heroics against strong Walton

The Trust League is for Clubs looking to develop their young cricketers and to give them the opportunity of playing against a mixture of Adults and other young cricketers of different ages. The Trust rules say Teams must play at least 7 U21’s, 5 of whom must be U18’s.

This sometimes means the numbers at the different age ranges varies from Club to Club, and this fixture was a fine example...
Reigate’s team was 4 Seniors, 1 U17, 1 U16, 1 U15, 3 U14’s and 1 U13. Walton fielded 4 Seniors, 1 U20, 1 U19, 3 U17’s, 1 U15 and 1 U14.
Three of Walton’s Seniors played against our T20 side on Bank Holiday Monday so this highlights the different levels of experience between the two teams [was quite hard to tell who the Walton seniors and juniors were from the boundary as they all had beards - Ed].

Nonetheless “Game-on”. Walton won the toss and elected to bat. A hot afternoon for the Reigate fielders with thankfully an extra drinks break agreed.

Will Brewis (U13), who had skippered the U13’s against Wimbledon in the morning, opened the bowling against Walton’s openers Matt Harris (Senior) and Will Arkell (U19). They took the score to 51 in the 10th over before fellow opening bowler Manoj Rajarethinam (Senior) had Matt Harris (Senior) lbw for 21. William’s opening spell of 4 overs didn’t bring him a wicket but his finishing figures of 8 overs 2 maidens 4 wickets for 21 go some way to show he bowled with good pace and accuracy. 2 of his 4 wickets were against Walton’s Seniors.

Will Arkell (U19, who also played against the Reigate T20 side on the Bank Holiday) was next out for 29 with the score on 87 in the 16th over, bowled by Tyler Shoare (U16) whose in-swing bowling was causing problems to Walton. Tyler was eventually rewarded with another wicket and had final figures of 7 overs 2 wickets for 33. Drinks provided fresh impetus to Reigate who then had Cameron Allen (U20) out for 12 caught by Manny (Senior) off Brijesh Bharatiya (Senior) in the 17th over with the score now 87-3.

Tyler (U16) then clean bowled Dominic Rosevear (U17) for a duck for 89-4 in the 18th over. William Brewis (U13) returned to have Michael Simpson (U14) out lbw for 11; score 114-5. The 30th over was a contest of the Captains as James Leck (Senior) had Jamie Mann (Senior) lbw for 14 with the score now 126-6. The next over saw William Brewis bowl Ben Monk (Senior) for 5 with the score now 126-7 and next ball bowl Jack Dominy (Senior) for a golden duck to make it 126-8. No hat-trick but William wasn’t finished as he then had Matt Bailey (U17) out lbw with the score now 127-9.

Walton’s tail wagged as Ciaran Taylor (U17) and Uddhav Umakanthan (U15) took Walton to 164 in the 37th over when Manny (Senior) returned to take his 2nd wicket by bowling Ciaran Taylor (U17). All out 164.

Reigate openers were Seb Driscoll (U14) and Brijesh Bharatiya (Senior) up against Walton’s opening bowlers of Uddhav Umakanthan (U15) and Jack Dominy (one of the Senior’s who played against our T20 team). Seb Driscoll (U14) was an early victim as he smashed a ball back to be caught and bowled by Jack Dominy (Senior). Score 2 runs for 1 wicket in the 2nd over.

Sam Parker (U14) came in at number 3 and followed up his 55 not out when Captaining the U14’s against Wimbledon in the morning, with a fine 23. Brijesh (Senior) was then run out for 10 in the 13th over with the score on 30, going for a second run (his call).

With the score on 60 in the 18th over, Parker was 3rd wicket down when he was caught in the deep by Jack Dominy (Senior) off Matt Harris (Senior). Ant Ireland (Senior) had come in at 4 in a batting order where the Seniors were scattered through the batting order to provide encouragement to the youngsters.

Unfortunately, the Walton seniors removed a couple more juniors cheaply, meaning Ireland was joined by fellow Senior and Captain James Leck. They took the score to 112 in the 28th over but a mini collapse ensued when Ant Ireland was caught in the deep for a solid 32 off the bowling of Ben Monk (Senior). 112 for 6 became 112 for 7 as Shanyu Vuppala (U15) was run out by partner James Leck. This was James Leck’s only blemish in the match.

With the score still on 112, two more wickets fell to the Walton pace attack. With the score at 114-9 the innings looked all over but William Brewis (U13) joined Captain James Leck and provided able support in the 10th wicket stand. Reigate were getting ever nearer to their target of 164 and Walton reverted to their Senior bowlers. 139-9 in the 35th over became 145-9 in the 37th over.

It looked all over when James hit a shot to the deep square leg where it looked like Will Arkell (U19) did an excellent piece of fielding jumping on the boundary but fortunately for Reigate Will had touched the boundary rope and the resulting 6 took Reigate to 159-9 in the 39th over. James Leck had steered his team to within sight of victory and had completed his 50. James now faced the last over from fellow Senior Jack Dominy. 2 runs took Reigate to 161 - just a boundary away from a win with 2 balls left when James was bowled by Dominy to give Walton a win by 3 runs.

A match played in the “Spirit of Cricket” by both teams.

Walton’s Seniors bowled 30 of their 40 overs. By comparison Reigate’s Seniors only bowled 19 of the 37 overs. It is of course up to the teams as to how much they involve their Seniors and it is perhaps credit to the Reigate team that Walton had to use their Senior bowlers to win the game.

Highlights for the Reigate youngsters:
William Brewis with 4 for 21 and a stubborn 9 in a 10th wicket stand of 47.
Tyler Shaore’s swing bowling for 2 for 33
Sam Parker with his 23 scored mainly against the Walton Senior bowlers.
Commitment in the field –Beau Dethridge taking a ball on his eyelid to save a boundary and wicket keeper Seb Driscoll often put his body in the way to stop the ball.

Highlight for the Reigate Seniors (and some admitted to feeling their age)
James Leck’s 52 batting at number 7, and his 7 overs for 20 and his Captaincy where he kept all the young players involved.