Promising Start For U13s Despite Horsford Defeat
The U13s have started the season with two wins against Sprowston and Dereham in the Alan Bridgewater competition but suffered a heavy defeat at home to Horsford in the first round of the ECB U13 Knock-Out Competition.
Against Sprowston, Melton batted first and Lohit Kannan (32) and Nat Buxton (14) got the innings off to an excellent start. The innings stalled a little in the middle, once the openers had been dismissed, but some effective late hitting by Ben Fletcher (15) and Ben Johnson (12 not out) enabled Melton to total 190-3 from their 16 overs. C.Moore was Sprowston's best bowler with 2-16. Three early wickets for Henry Bugg then put a big dent in Sprowston's reply and, although Joe Dix took the game to Melton with some powerful hitting in his unbeaten 30, once he retired, wickets fell regularly with Ethan Rushton (2-0) making short work of the tail. Bugg bowled particularly well taking 4-13 with Mohit Badimela (1-6) the other wicket-taker as Sprowston were dismissed for 62 in the 14th over.
Horsford proved a different proposition with a side containing several County players, just too powerful on the day. A lovely innings of 33 not out from opener S.Hyatt and some powerful leg-side hitting by Jayden Borges in a quick 32 helped Horsford to a total of 125-3. Ben Fletcher (2-8) was the pick of the Melton bowlers but, in truth, the bowling was a bit erratic with too many short balls or full tosses and, with fielders often too close to the bat, it was difficult to stem the tide of runs. In reply, Melton's innings never really got going with only Cameron Graveling (20) reaching double figures as Melton were dismissed for 72 to lose by 53 runs, Ethan Metcalf (3-7) and Borges (3-11) taking 3 wickets each.
Against Dereham an unbroken half-century partnership between Lohit Kannan (32) and Nat Buxton (22) gave Melton's innings a really sound foundation in murky and drizzly conditions. Both retired at the end of the 10th over and, although Melton lost Ethan Rushton (9) and Cameron Graveling (7), some good shots by Ben Johnson (10 not out) enabled the score to reach 116-2. Dereham put up a good fight but, with conditions worsening and the slippery ball difficult to control, Melton's bowlers did well to restrict their opponents to 57-5, giving them a 59-run win. The wickets were shared between Ben Fletcher (1-6), Lohit (1-2), Cameron (1-2) and Ethan (1-4) with Cameron also holding a catch and affecting a direct-hit run out.
The full scoreboard for these games can be found on our Play-Cricket website at: http://greatmelton.play-cricket.com/website/web_pages/44255
Steve Phoenix
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