U10s the First To Silverware in 2021...

The U10s were over at Royal Ascot in their penultimate pairs cricket tussle of the Sunday West League last Friday (a rearranged game) - those not familiar with pairs cricket by the way, let's get you up to speed on the format: batting in pairs, each team starts with 200 runs/points and depending on runs and outages this number swings about, creating your final net score and a very fun game in the process. There are four points for winning and bonus points handed out when the opposing pairs are then compared.

So win this game and the U10s win the league. We think. It all hinged on a win, bonus points, and a little bit of fairy dust from results on Sunday.

The gameplan: 20 overs to get 300+ points to be on the safe side. The U10s batted first and started promisingly, with 57 put on for the first pair Max Toogood & Tommy Hawksley, and as scores edged upwards (Charlie Grant & Harry Mann with excellent composure for the third pair) it was the last pairing Scott Russell and Nathan Osborn who batted solidly to lock in the net score of 314. Game on. The first wicket came in the first Royal Ascot pairing via Scott but the next proved a bit more elusive as the overs progressed. Runs started to build up, and as pair battles and bonus points slipped away, at the halfway point the teams were level-ish on rate. Nothing was getting past Danny Battams in the field or wickie Oscar Toogood the whole innings, and Captain Max marshalled his troops superbly. Going into the last pair RA were 289 with Chertsey requiring 5 overs to create a bit of magic. In the 16th over things started to unravel for RA with a wicket and they found themselves back on 289. After a coupl eof drama-filled overs going into the last RA required six an over to win but two late wickets at the death meant the target was unassailable and a real team effort win for Chertsey was secured...

Huge congrats to Coach Mark Osborn and his support Coaches, the parents, and the squad (many of who couldn't be there Friday), we must say we were impressed with the professionalism and composure on show. Just wait two, three years and they'll be blazing a trail in senior cricket too. We. Can't. Wait.

Check out the moment they were told they'd won after the game here:

https://twitter.com/ChertseyCC/status/1419930675248046109