The long trip to Packwood saw glorious sunshine. Packwood elected to bat but Will had their star batsman out early on with a lovely ball which took the top of off stump. Catches were caught unlike on Sunday and Packwood were teetering at 85-6. A good partnership steadied the ship and tea was taken at 153-6 with the Abberley bowlers tiring in the sun.

A steady start to our innings ensued but the accelerator pedal seemed out of reach as the runs dried up against accurate bowling. Having played casually on Sunday the reponse was one of over caution. The arrival of Will brought much needed urgency but he was dropped twice as he sought the runs. Harry again batted with patience but took too much strike from Will and the game ran out of steam. Will began to calm himself and the run rate almost died. It was tedious stuff until with one over to go Will burst back into life to smack 26 in the over including 4 maximums !!
We finished on 101-4 but most spectators were bemused by the tame attempt to go for the runs. Will made his third half century in 4 games finishing on 55 not out but once again the result could have been so different.

'Kettle on the boil as Packwood Crumble'

Captain Richard S. won the toss yet again and chose to bat. Having only scored 82 runs against Packwood earlier in the season against their 153 I wasn't sure about his decision. With only 4 runs on the board, we had two batters back in the pavilion and my fears of a rout were looming large. How negative could I be? How pessimistic was I of this 'Lionhearted' team! I should have known better. Firstly 'Bazzer' breezed in and belted the ball for a quick-fire 25 and then Hugo S. and Richard S. built a partnership that was as solid as the Great Wall of China. Both had cycled to South Wales on Monday covering over 130 miles so they were a little jaded to put it mildly.
Runs came slowly at first but the score mounted and we declared after Tea on 138. Richard S. scored a magnificent 64 and was well supported by Hugo S. on 22. Packwood's innings started swiftly and after 5 overs they were 31 runs to the good (compared to our 4 for 2 at the same stage!) But then Alex P. got a wicket (well caught by Andrew S.), the scoring rate slowed and Rupert K. entered the scene. Like a diminutive Shane Warne, he spun Packwood out and with good catches being held and fine support from the off-spin of Hugo S. we were on the brink of an emphatic victory. It was fitting that Rupert K. took the last wicket to wrap up the match and with 6 wickets to his name he was given the match ball.

What a match! Captain Richard's super 64 and Rupert's 6 wickets were the stand out performances but the whole team played their part in this morale boosting victory.
Well played one and all!

Packwood won the toss, batted first and amassed 141 runs in 31 overs on a pitch with a short boundary. All Abberley bowlers did a tremendous job with their best display of the season.Openers Toby ( 2-24) and Jake (2-28)were the main strike force...

With time limited, the Abberley innings started surely enough but in the face of an accurate attack runs were hard to come by eventually a draw was the only result to go for.Excellent performances from Toby C(15), Toby Y(13) , Jack (21) and Charlie (26 n o ) saw Abberley through to the close of play.

On a perfect day for cricket Packwood won the toss and elected to bat. Our opening bowlers (Tom & Javier) were soon on target dismissing their opening batsmen for a few runs. Despite some brilliant fielding by all, their star batman then put bat to ball in a big way scoring a rapid 37 (mostly 4’s & 6’s) in no time at all before being caught superbly by Alex at deep mid on. Our bowlers then took a grip on the game with Alex, Christian, Freddie and Max all taking wickets. Based on some super bowling and excellent fielding we had bowled Packwood out for 105 in just over an hour – our best performance by far this season.

In reply at tea we were 23 for 1 with Max playing well, punishing one of their opening bowlers severely for 16 in a single over!

After tea, time was on our side and the target was well with in our reach. Unfortunately Max was soon bowled by a ball that skidded through low without adding to his total. Christian and Jorge played very well keeping the score ticking along against some very good bowling from Packwood, but both were out with the score on 58. With the game still in the balance our remaining batsmen played woefully - all swinging and missing at good balls and being clean bowled in the process, adding only a further 9 runs to our total!

This was a game that after fielding so superbly we really should have won (and Packwood thought that they had lost) but lack patience and poor defending against good balls meant that we lost by 38 runs.

On May 20th the U9’s visited Packwood and were thumped by 96 runs, conceding 17 wickets and 58 runs in extras. It is good to report that the return match was a different matter.

Packwood batted first and lost wickets in each of the first three overs to tight bowling from Lucien, Angus and Jake (see figures above); Will Booth bowled economically and then Freddie clinched two more wickets in the fifth over, Packwood starting the sixth over at 211. So far so good.

Abberley then allowed the afternoon heat to sap concentration and six catches were dropped in the space of four overs, 3 of them easy ones. This handed the initiative back to Packwood who added more than 90 runs in the next 12 overs for the loss of only 3 wickets.

Chasing 339 to win Abberley knew they had to avoid conceding too many wickets and hit all the bad balls for runs. We started promisingly with Angus and Lucien blasting 34 for 1, Jake and Josh H-P adding 25 for 1, Will Booth and Freddie 18 for 1 and Ed Roberts and Josh Phipps 15 for 1.

Packwood kept the pressure up in the field and bowled very well to our fifth pair, Will Lane and Thomas Brennan, particularly their off-spinner Humphries who took a wicket maiden in the 17 over. Needing to push for runs if victory was to be achievable for the last pair, Will and Thomas had to take a few risks. A mix up over calling caused an untimely run out and the momentum began to slip for Abberley.

Harvey and Jack did their best to keep the game alive, Harvey imitating Angus earlier on by hitting two successive sixes in the penultimate over but it was too little too late. We finished on 309, short of our target by 29 runs.

Arguably it was the dropped catches that were the difference between the teams this time. If you don’t take them, it’s catches that lose matches.