U14 SJIL clinch the league with wins over Banstead and Farnham including a century for Arnav

2 for the price of 1 and a bit more…

Sunday 30th June saw the visit of our friendly rivals Banstead to Park Lane for a local & competitive derby
We batted 1st and piled up a massive 200-2 off 25 overs
Jonny 21 off 14 and Seth a run a ball 34 opened up
Will B & Arnav then went mad – Arnav 61 no off 55 and Will B 70no off 48 – with some big hitting, fast running & scintillating stroke play
After another high quality tea, the boys went out and quickly got in their stride
Ronnie took 2 quick wickets then a little later Will J got the key wicket of Ben B caught by Will B (cue big celebration)
Seth, Will G & Will B took 2 apiece and Sean 1 meant Banstead were all out for 179, 21 runs short
Cue wild celebration

Farnham away on Sunday 7th July was our last match of the season knowing a win would clinch the title, however, we discovered before the game that due to Farnham conceding their match against Wimbledon we’d already won it but the team (& manager) decided we wanted to go unbeaten

Prior to the start of the game, we witnessed a dog catching a squirrel & a man putting it out of its misery (the squirrel not the dog) – only in Farnham

Following a brief meeting of the captaincy group, Captain Jack won the toss & decided we’d bat 1st following this season’s successful model
Jonny & Harrison opened up with caution & some lusty blows from Jonny including a flat 6 into the car park narrowly missing a female cyclist who 5 minutes later was demanding we pay for her broken spoke – I neglected to mention to her she was lucky to still be alive
Jonny was unluckily out for 12 not getting over the ball & Harrison was caught behind after a watchful & patient 5
Arnav and Will B at the crease and carried on from their Banstead heroics putting on 82 in short time. Both were brutal, dispatching anything short or full and running with purpose but Will was then out caught, the ball not really there to be hit
Sean then joined Arnav and proceeded to time the ball beautifully whilst the Arnavator continued on his merry way. A fantastic partnership of 140 in no time culminated in Sean’s excellent 65 and then Arnav’s century, loud & enthusiastic applause and a very proud dad. He batted superbly & left to a guard of honour
Jack & Conor entertained the crowd without actually hitting the ball much and we finished on a hugely impressive 264-5 off 30 overs
After one of the best away teas of the season, the boys were warned of complacency & over-confidence and fortunately they fielded superbly, taking their catches & 4 run outs
Miserly bowling by Will G giving away 10 runs from his 3 overs (NO WIDES AGAIN!), 2 comprehensively bowled by Sean and 3 for Conor with his mind-bending leg spin led to Farnham ending on 116 ao after 25 overs giving the boys a victory of 149 runs ending the season in impressive style and accompanied by photos & videos galore on Whatsapp
Arnav’s century was a special moment for us all especially Arnav & Surendra whose birthday it was!

So the U14 SJIL team are league winners going unbeaten and gaining 30 points from a possible 32, the 2 dropped points from an abandonment
We scored 1376 runs over the season, batting 1st in every match and with runs on the board, tight bowling & fielding proved too much for the opposition
18 boys played SJIL during the season showing our strength in depth

There were so many fantastic individual achievements (too many to mention here) but it was playing as a team that meant we were successful – encouraging, supporting & backing each other was key especially in those tight moments.

The boys should be very proud of themselves, they have achieved what we set out to achieve and have played high quality, competitive cricket with a smile on their faces. Lots of champagne moments that we will share at the awards.

Parents have also been incredibly supportive along the way and a big help to me – teas, umpiring, scoring, lifts etc

Well done all and thanks a lot.