Tuesday 28th July 2009

Derbyshire U11s enjoy week long cricket party!

The Shrewsbury U11 Festival started on the Wednesday as anxious parents, players (and coaches!) arrived at the fantastic grounds of Shrewsbury School. Once in our boarding house, the boys settled into their rooms, some of which were imaginatively decorated – especially Richard Brown and Jack Robbins! Our first dinner followed and it set a standard for the rest of the week – lots of variety and plenty of food. I’m not sure how often the boys have had Moroccan stew, but it seemed to go down well, although not quite as well as the sausages/mash with ice cream the next day – surely “the best cricket tea ever” commented several of the lads.

Our evenings were spent in the nets, the swimming pool, playing touch rugby and football. Not to forget a memorable night of “healthy” snacks whilst watching Escape to Victory accompanied by Marshy’s encyclopedic knowledge of all things to do with World War II... plus the “who is Bobby Moore” quote will stick in my mind? There was also the not so memorable “Derbyshire’s Got Talent” night, which only went to confirm that it is a good job that the boys are good cricketers.... Oh, and there were also some cricket matches.

A relatively comfortable win against Herefordshire meant that we hit the ground running. Our innings of 128/3 was built around Richard Brown (43) who opened and saw us through until the final over – his innings allowing Callum Brodrick (42) and Cameron Ball (19*) to come in and play their shots. Our opponents got off to a reasonable start getting to 50 with only two wickets down but Aidan Marsh took 4/15 to cut through the batting and we won by 57 runs. Our thanks to Shrewsbury CC also for their fantastic hospitality. 

Our next game against Worcestershire was always going to be a stearner test with two of their top three batters having scored 50 and 100 in the last game. At 78/2 our opposition were looking set for a large score but some controlled bowling by the seamers, searching leg spin and excellent fielding all combined to restrict Worcestershire to 124/7. At 39/3 after an initially promising start by Liam Doyle and Elliott Hibell, a win was looking far away. Up stepped Callum Brodrick (48*) again playing positively and intelligently, swinging the game back in our favour through partnerships of 40 and 46 with Elliott Savidge and Richard Brown respectively. A tense game ended with us winning with 16 balls to spare. A tough game of cricket won against a very good team.

The Final against Staffordshire was a cracker, which went down to the last ball. Batting with Connor Walters at the end, Callum Brodrick who scored 147 runs in the tournament at an average of 73.5, got us to the final ball with an innings of maturity and skill, but it was not to be our day. He received great support from Joe Parker (11), Liam Doyle (20) and Elliott Savidge (11) with the bat. In the field Callum also took two great catches, only to be outdone by Elliott Hibell whose diving catch in the gully drew oohs and aahs from the crowd. To quote a cliché “it could have gone either way” ... but the boys played some fantastic cricket and showed real character. We were all very proud of them. 

In each Festival match of 30 overs we scored over 115 runs and on average only lost 4 wickets an innings – well done the batters. For the bowlers Elliott Savidge and Matthew Newbold led the attack well and were well supported by Alex Moore, James Painter, Jack Robbins and Harry Fortey plus our three musketeers of spin. Our fielding through the fesitival was as usual of a high standard with some outstanding catches and also some good wicket keeping by both Nathan Snookes and James Sookias, who were 2 of the 4 U10s players on show – congratulations to all the young lads on their contribution. 

Our approach to the festival was to ensure that each of the boys enjoyed the experience and benefited in some way both from the cricket and through the off field experiences. We believe that we achieved these goals and in the main this was down to the boys, who were brilliant all week. It was a genuine pleasure to share the experience with them. 

John Sookias, Jon Dyson & Chris Porter

21st April 2009

DCB U11 Squad Photo 2009