Leck ton sets up big win

With a later 3 o’clock kick-off start time to allow the players to watch the England v Panama World Cup game (not the only 6 of the day), the Llamas Trust X1 match against Worcester Park U21’s was reduced to 30 overs a side.
The Llamas selected 3 Seniors, 2 U18’s, 1 U17, 3 U16’s and 2 U13’s.
Worcester Park, who have 3 Saturday teams who all play in their respective 2nd divisions, fielded a mix of seniors and youngsters with players from their 1st’s, 2nd’s and 3rd’s.
The Llamas were put into bat and William Timmons (U16) was 1st out in the 5th over, bowled for 5 (13-1).
Captain James Leck joined opener Tyler Shoare (U16) and the pair took the score to 87,with 4’s for both, before Tyler was caught behind for 25 (87-2 in the 13th over).
With only 30 overs in total, Matthew Crighton (U18) came in at 4 and quickly got into his stride with 2 fours before being caught and bowled for 10 trying to smash another 4 past the bowler (109-3 in the 18th over).
Ollie Thilo (U16), in at 5, continued to push the score along and also hit 2 fours before being stumped for 14 off 15 balls in attempting to accelerate the scoring (126-4 in the 21st over).
With 9 overs remaining Jai Patel (U18) joined James Leck and the pair both scored freely.
James moved to 65 after 25 overs and with 5 overs left his 100 looked out of reach.
Jai scored 26 not out at a run a ball including 4 fours. James Leck reached his 100 (including one 6) with 1 ball of the 30 left and the Llamas finished their 30 overs on 208 for 4.
James Leck was the only Senior to bat and his ton allowed him to rely on his young bowlers to defend the score.
He opened with William Brewis (U13) who continued his success from the previous Trust fixture by having Opener Stewart Powers caught behind by James Leck in the 1st over for a duck (0-1).
Fellow opening bowler Ollie Thilo (U16) then had Finlay Scott also caught behind by James Leck (16-2 in the 6th over).
Felix Tiley was the only Llama who didn’t bat or ball but he wasn’t to be left out of the action as he caught Worcester Park Captain Oscar King at mid-on off Ollie’s bowling (24-3 in the 8th over).
Ollie Thilo’s figures were 5 overs 2 for 13 but with 6 wides I suspect Ollie will admit to his radar being off course; possibly explained by leg-side bowling being allowed in 2nd team timed games but not allowed in the trust format.
Next bowlers were Seth McDowell (U13) and Tyler Shoare (U16) and the pair continued to keep Worcester Park under the required scoring rate such that by 13overs Worcester Park had only reached 40.
30 runs came in the next 3 overs when with the score on 69, Tyler Shoare (5 overs 1-36) had D Andrews (22) well caught by Manoj Rajarethinam (69-4 in the 16th over).
Peter Friend (3 overs 1-10) was next to strike when he clean bowled opener Nathan Andrews who had patiently scored 30 in 57 balls (91-5 in the 21st over).
With less than 10 overs and over 100 runs still needed, Worcester Park were unlikely to reach their target although Seniors David Wilkinson (26 not out) and Stuart Bradshaw (34 not out) were not giving up.
With Manoj bowling at one end (5 overs 0-27) James Leck brought back William Brewis and Seth McDowell at the other end and far from accelerating towards the Llamas score they restricted Worcester Park to about 4 an over in their last few overs for Worcester Park to end on 148-5 in their 30 overs, to give a win for the Llamas.
Although Seth McDowell didn’t get a wicket his figures of 6 overs 0-28 showed how well he bowled and both he and William Brewis (6 overs 1-32) impressed the Worcester Park umpire.