Junior Cricket

COLWALL found runs hard to come by against a spirited Worcester side.

A steady opening partnership by Watts and Butler gave them a good platform to build on.

But it wasn’t until the last pair of Bartlett and Newey that Colwall pushed anywhere near a reasonable target.

In reply, Colwall’s tight bowling and fielding turned the game in their favour, with the bowlers all contributing to record another victory.

Colwall u13s.

COLWALL entertained a strong Ross team in the first of their u13s league matches and lost by seven wickets.

Colwall won the toss and elected to bat. They struggled against some good seam bowling, and were all out in the final over for 90 runs.

Ben Cooke top scored with 23, Freddie Coleman (22) and Harry Bee (12), were the only other batsman to reach double figures.

In reply, despite a good opening spell of bowling especially by Bee with 3-10, Ross reached their target in the 16th over for the loss of only three wickets.

Colwall next play away against Eastnor and will look for a better all-round performance.

THE Southern Highlanders District Cricket teams went into their third round of matches with the West/Central Wolves.

It was the turn of the u12s team to play host at Ashton-under-Hill’s ground to their much feared and undefeated opponents. Once again it was the spinners that proved to be the ones to slow a steady scoring rate with Antony Pratley again picking up wickets. However, the seam bowling of David Fawcett of Harvington also proved most effective.

Having been set 143 for victory, the Highlanders started well and Will Davies was in fine form, again passing 30. With the rate increasing the Wolves were able to apply pressure and bowl the Highlanders out 30 runs short.

The u11s team registered a fine first victory of the competition against their previously unbeaten counterparts. A good all-round bowling display, led by Robert Fawcett, saw the Wolves dismissed for just 88.

In reply, Steven Clarke, of Bretforton, started with a fine array of boundaries to get the Highlanders off to a great start. Wickets fell regularly but skipper Nick Hammond stayed calm throughout his score of 50. He had good support from Nomads’ Oli Ranscombe and, with the win in the bag, Josh Dell, with some hard hitting, saw the South through for some bonus points.

On the adjacent pitch at the Grammar School the u13s strode to a third straight victory. A below-par bowling performance still saw the Wolves bundled out for 137. Wickets were shared around with Mark Johnson getting three. In reply, the in-form Sam Nicholls again crashed several boundaries on his way to 46, falling just short of a successive 50. Jack Mackintosh, the skipper from Barnards Green, was shifted up to open and was first to fall for 13. But at 50-1 in 11 overs, the Highlander’s were well on the way to victory.

A fine partnership between Alex Clasen (55no) and Lewis Austin (33no) saw the Highlanders through to an easy win and maximum bonus points as they closed on 175-3 off 26 overs.

On Sunday, the second half of the competition starts with the South playing Dudley North.

Evesham u14s 50 all out, Hanley Castle & Upton u14s 52-2.

HANLEY lost the toss and were asked to bowl on a damp green track at Evesham in this first round of the u14s Cup.

Debutant Mark Smout (2-7) dismissed two Evesham batsman in the first over and Arran Bovington bowled an attacking line from the other end which made scoring difficult.

The hosts struggled to get the ball through their opponents field and good tight bowling from Louis Duckworth (1-4) and Johnny Bywater (1-7) saw wickets tumble.

Billy Taylor (2-1) bowled a mean line of accurate slow deliveries and Jacob Lee’s spin claimed 1-9.

Tom Bottomley cleaned up the tail with 2-0 with Evesham all out for 50 off 19 overs.

Hanley Castle & Upton’s openers William Chambers and Toby Harper set about their target of 51 to win in an extremely positive manner.

The visitors progressed to 38 off six overs before Chambers (17) was run-out and Harper (10) bowled going for a swot to mid-off as the rain loomed ever closer.

Bywater and Bottomley came in and hit the winning runs.