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We arrived on the hottest day of the year at Knowle Cricket Club with a mixture of under 8's and under 9's all very excited to play in their first tournament. In our group we had the two host teams as well as one of the of the odds on favourites, Bishopston.
In our first match, we came up against one of the Knowle teams and took to the field after some last minute advice of protect the boundaries! We batted first and the lads really did well in the extreme heat. Hugo Highams was impressive with three lovely clips off his legs in a row for 6! Dylan Adams came in and showed some class with some impressive cricket shots and good match awareness. We posted a huge total 283 and didn't lose any wickets. Absolutely quality start.
In the field we continued our good form and all the boys really impressed with some good match awareness with everyone walking in and concentrating on where they were fielding. Ben Ryan showed a moment of class making an unbelievable diving stop to save a boundary and was applauded by the large watching crowd of over 50 parents and children. This piece of fielding clearly inspired Hugo Highams who picked up the ball on the boundary and rocketed the ball in from 25 yards for a direct hit run out!! Yousaf and Stanley both picked up their first wicket. All the bowlers bowled well and we restricted them to 201. Great first win.
Our second match we took on the Knowle Tigers. These were the hosts and tipped to be a very strong team. We started well but were ambitious with some of our running and lost a few wickets through run outs. Luca Strange and Nicholas impressed with the bat and helped take us through the innings. Bobby Millett came in at the end and smashed the biggest 6 of the match over mid wicket. We finished on 258 so needed to bowl well.
Knowle Tigers started positively with their opening batsman smashing the ball straight for 6. This same lad decided to then take out all three stumps trying to smash the ball for 6 again. Ned Blakemore bowled well and was the pick of the bowlers. Despite our best efforts in the field Knowle finished on 273. A very tight affair and great match for the lads to be involved in.
Our final game was against Bishopston, the clear favourites for the tournament and had a Shine favourite Ollie Cook in their ranks. Shine did well to post a great total of 269 with some awesome 6 hitting from Hugo Highams and Ben Ryan. In the field again Shine were awesome with some smart catching and excellent fielding. In reply Bishopston posted 295, mainly due to one pair who scored boundaries every ball.
A great day out for the Shine cricket team and an awesome experience. Knowle Tigers and Bishopston were the eventual finalists with Bishopston going on to win it. We did very well with a mixture of under 8's and under 9's and we are looking forward to the next one!!