New Signing

The KCC press corp can announce the signature of another literary wit, to help guide you through those monotonous Monday mornings. A very warm welcome to the head honcho of the Under 12s, Mr Paul Newell.

A tough week for the Under 12s at the Field of Dreams

A Pairs match against the formidable Radcliffe was immediately followed by an 11-a-side game versus last years Under 11 Champions - Caythorpe. The boys performed admirably in weather conditions ranging from sunshine to downpours, and most stages in between.

The pairs game on Monday saw two debutants for Keyworth in an inexperienced but enthusiastic line up. Parker and Messham joined the ranks and swelled the "players used" to 17 before the end of May. With County players in the Radcliffe team it was going to be a tough task, but Captain Cairns led by example and an unbroken first pair partnership with Ackroyd saw the score race to 226-0 after four overs. Cairns exploited the gaps superbly and the running was terrific. Radcliffe were rattled.

The in-form Newell (fresh from his adult debut at Woodhouse Eaves on Sunday) continued the flurry of boundaries with excellent support from Messham. Sadly Messham went walkabouts and got stumped when he wasn't watching and Newell tickled one to the keeper, and tried to look innocent. 245-2. Burns and Malik took the careful approach with Burns later breaking free with a mighty blow through midwicket. 258-3. Regular opener Neece played the two shots of the day with a cover drive and a straight drive to drool over. Understandably carried away and with the adrenaline flowing.....two rash shots later, we were 12 runs worse off. These things happen. Parkers debut was very solid with an admirable "thou shalt not pass" approach. 278-6. Phoenix and Brown finished the innings with lots of common sense and some excellent running - a feature of the whole innings. 288-7.

Radcliffe opened up with a County player who timed the ball exceptionally well. Newell had his fingers stung twice at mid off and the whole team had to get their kit dirty to keep the runs from flowing. An excellent pitch with a new ball made for some good strokeplay, despite the clouds gathering. The bowling was a fraction wayward but the energy in the field, and the backing up by four players at a time, was a joy to behold. Wickets were tough to come by - Messham, Brown and Parker showed bravery in getting behind some meaty drives, and Burns covered more ground than Boss's Y-fronts. The weather conditions deteriorated badly and the ball turned into a bar of soap for the last 10 overs. Parents ran for cover, and Neecy Senior had his engine running and the heater on. No complaints from the fielders - full marks for sticking with it boys. A run out in the last over gave us our first wicket - to scenes of wild jubilation. Two balls later Newell produced a jaffa to hit middle and off - the fightback had started. And then the game ended. Radcliffe finished on a very impressive 330-2. It is no disgrace losing to a good team, and the players performed admirably. Thank you to Ted for standing in as scorer in the absence of Tuckwell and Legge, still huddled together for warmth in a tent in Wales on a school camping trips. Well done to Barry for getting the gazebo over the scorers too, to keep then dry.


Champions Caythorpe in Town

The following night, the sun was shining - was it to be a new dawn for the Under 12's..? Well, no it wasn't actually, but we weren't to know that at 6pm. The return of Shepherd, Kitching, Rock, Cox, and Blacklock boded well adding experience, and hunger after being rested the previous day. Caythorpe won the Under 11 competition in 2009 so they were always going to be difficult opponents. This proved true as the ball flew crisply from the openers bats, but all that changed with a terrific catch at third man by Kitching from a steepler off the bowling of Shepherd. Blacklock took a sharp chance behind the stumps off Rock, and two run outs from Neece and Cairns (with good work by Blacklock) kept Keyworth in contention. 36-4.

A loss of concentration in the middle of the innings was to prove costly as the momentum shifted back to Caythorpe - a fine unbroken stand of 50 for the fifth wicket saw one batsman retire and the run rate creep up to post a total of 102. We conceded around 15 runs more than we should have done. I saw lots of good examples of the long barrier before and after the game but during the game itself it seemed to drift away....... Brown brought a whole new meaning to 'getting everything behind it' by stopping one for the team in the ultimate manner - he will be fielding wearing a box next week.

It was felt to be a reachable target if top order got away to a good start. As it happened, Cairns was unlucky to play a ball on to his stumps, Newell chipped one to mid-wicket and Neece was bowled by a good delivery. The bowling was very accurate, at a decent pace and with a bit of swing too - we may not play a better bowling side all season. Shepherd showed some counter-attacking strokeplay but the middle order struggled against the continued excellence of the bowling, and a near hat-trick at the end finished us off with three balls to spare. Cox and Brown had done some noble crease-occupation, and Phoenix took his first-baller like a man - a mad man - running from the pitch with his arms aloft celebrating like a World Cup winner. Jack, I salute you. I wish I could have accepted my many golden ducks in quite such a manner.

Seven batsmen were clean bowled as we were 52 all out - a testament to the quality of the bowling but also a lesson for us to learn. We have to select our shots more carefully and pick which balls to attack and which to defend - I am sure it will come. It's been a fantastic journey so far and there is a very long way to go. (I pinched that bit from 'Britain's Got Talent')