U17s Single Wicket Competition

8th June 2009

Due to no cup matches and TABS pulling out of the league, it was decided to hold an under 17s single wicket competition. A good turnout meant that 10 took part to see who could claim the title. A series of obscure rules was introduced to try and limit slogging (unsuccessfully)

• BOUNDARIES ONLY COUNT FOR 2 RUNS
• ALL 1,2 and 3’s COUNT DOUBLE
• WIDES COUNT FOR 4 RUNS.
• NO BALLS COUNT FOR 4 RUNS
• NO EXTRA BALLS FOR WIDES / NO BALLS
• 6 BALL OVERS
• BYES DO NOT COUNT
• CT or BOWLED is MINUS 10 RUNS
• RUN OUTS is MINUS 5 RUNS
• RUN OUTS ONLY END RUNNING TO
• WHEN BATSMAN PASSES HALFWAY POINT MUST CONTINUE
• YOU DO NOT HAVE TO RUN
• LBW at UMPIRES DISCRETION
• MATCHES CONSIST OF 2 OVERS
• FINAL CONSIST OF 3 OVERS

1st Round

Jay (inbetweeners) and Cheeky Monkey started the proceedings and although Jay started with a flyer, two wickets brought his total right down. Cheeky Monkey then eased to a win.

Next up was the Fireball (or the GW) versus King Louie. Although the fireball had one of the top scores of the day (20), an overthrow in the second over let King Louie in for 8 and win the game by two runs.

Quarter-Finals

Jeffo took on Brownie in the 1st of the quarterfinals and after a few nice clicks by Jeffo he succumbed to being bowled around his legs in the second over. Brownie then batted sensibly overcoming a close LBW shout to win the game

George took on the Wragster in the 2nd Quarterfinal and the first run-out occurred as George overstepped the halfway mark by a foot. A good catch by Harry off the final ball then upped the pressure. With encouragement from the senior coach, George steamed in, but it wasn’t to be as Wraggy eased home

Harry took on Atko in the 3rd quarterfinal and posted the highest score from 2 overs, even though Chris was swinging the ball like a rusty gate. Atko came out all guns blazing, but with ball travelling upwards instead of towards the boundary and a run-out; Atko came up a long way short

Cheeky Monkey and King Louie, buoyed from their wins in the first round, took on each other. A close game but a dodgy LBW against Louie and some excellent bowling from the monkey saw him home

Semi-Finals

With the sledging heating up and fielders bored of walking to the boundary, (must bring in a rule to reduce slogging) the first semi-final between Brownie and Fletcher took place. Brownie did well to get to 12, losing a wicket on the way, but as Harry looked to have sewn things up, put his final ball down mid-offs throat (for the umpteenth time this season) to call a draw. The rulebook was hastily found and new rules made up for a final one over bowl out. A close game but an overthrow with the batsman in the way and the loss of an early wicket gave the game to Harry

The Monkey came up against the Wragster in semi-final 2 and even though some good batting from the Monkey a terrific catch by Jay off the penultimate ball put a dampener on his score. Wraggy came out and batted sensibly but a queried umpires decision cost him 5 runs. The Monkey swung in from a 40 yard run-up but could not beat solid defence.

The Final

So after some competitive matches the final was held between Wraggy and Harry, with Harry surprisingly choosing to bat first. An even stranger decision with three wickets in the first over, including a left arm runout by the bowler. The bowling at times was wild but the wickets took there toll and Harry ended up with 5. Wraggy seemed to have given Harry the slightest glint of victory with a shovelled shot to King Louie at midwicket but then settled down to ease to victory. Congratulations

Exhibition Match

After the quality catch from Jay and chomping at the bit from the senior Pro, a demo match was held with new rules at the end. Some quick scampering from Jay put on a mightily impressive 26 but the senior Pro assessed the quality of the fielding with some big hoicks and then settled down to run byes, winning off the final ball.

Results