Ian Allcock Woodbank Junior Coordinator
U11s Cricket 6-a-side Indoor Tournament - 3rd Annual Tournament (hosted by Bury Cricket Development Group) On Sunday 24 March 2024 our Woodbank CC U11 team took part in the annual indoor tournament. This was the 3rd tournament which this year expanded from the usual 8 teams to 10 teams, as the number of clubs in
Bury Development Group has grown. The aim of the group is to grow cricket in the local area and to provide as many of our children an opportunity to play at the highest level they can. This year we were in group 1 along with Bury, Elton, Ramsbottom and Bradshaw. Group 2 consisted of Stand, Greenmount, Walshaw, Prestwich and East Lancs PM. The event began at 09:00 and the teams played each other in their group and then the top 4 teams played off.
There were 6 players in each team, every player bowled one over each, per innings. Teams batted in pairs, 2 overs per pair. Games took 30 minutes. It was a long day and finished around 15:00. This year the team consisted of Jack, Joey, Ethan, Ben, Elias, with Max playing in the morning and Adam taking over later. The team was coached by Ian, with Jenny and Trevor assisting with the scoring. In the first league game we came up against Bury running out winners 132 to 99. A great start and with it being the first game of the competition the team found their feet quickly, as did the umpires and scorers, who all had to get used to the scoring with runs off the wall, 2 for a run, -6 for a wicket.
Next up was a tough game against Bradshaw. An excellent performance in the field saw us restrict Bradshaw to 118/6, with wickets in every over except the second. When it was our turn to bat we posted 120/0 to show our potential with a great all round game. Steady scoring by each pair through the first 5 overs saw us get ahead of Bradshaw and Joey then showed superb game management by confidently defending the last over. So 2 out of 2 and in our 3rd game we came up against Elton who we defeated by around 20 runs, in a game shortened to 5 overs per side to claw some time back.
Max left the team after this game, with Adam coming in and replacing him. So with 3 out of 3 we were in with a great shout of making the final but first we faced Ramsbottom in our last group game. Ramsbottom batted first and totalled 120/3 in their 5 overs. 2 wickets came in the 4th over with the 3rd in the last over. Our batting performance that followed was I think our best performance of the day.
We edged Ramsbottom out winning by 2 runs but after losing our only wicket in the first over we clawed the runs back steadily with each pair nudging our score forward before Ethan and Joey scored 14 runs in the last over to get us home on the last ball. The batters made full use of the rules by nudging the ball to the side walls and then taking a run which in this format scores 3 runs. They did that on 4 occasions. So after an excellent morning we finished the group stages with 8 points scoring 506 runs in the process.
Bradshaw scored more runs than us but they finished second on 6 points, on account of us beating them, but no other team in the comp scored over 500 runs. That led to Woodbank v Stand in the final and Bradshaw v Prestwich in the 3 ⁄ 4 place play off. In the final we fielded first. Unsurprisingly, Stand were a strong side but we restricted them to 109 after 2 overs, 119 after 4 and their total was 124/1 after their full 6 overs. Jack took our only wicket with the last ball of the innings, clean bowling their batter, to set us a competitive chase. Stand had some quick bowlers and claimed 3 wickets in the first 2 overs to put us at 99/3.
Ben and Jack were next in and defended well to bring our score to 104/3 after 4 overs. Onto the last 2 overs with Ethan and Joey taking the score to 115/3, moving into the final over. 2 dot balls were followed by a 2, 2 and 3 leaving us needing 3 off the last ball. But it was heartbreak for the young Bankers as the umpire gave a run out as we pushed for a run to put the fielders under pressure, trying to tie the game.
The loss of the wicket on the final ball saw us total 116/4 and Stand won by 8 runs. The team was heartbroken and despite feeling proud of their achievements there were the inevitable tears at the end. The future is bright at Woodbank as following on from our u9 team a couple of weeks to get to the final was a fantastic achievement for our U11s. This is a team that in the main has played together from the U9s and are progressing through the age groups and learning all the time. The fielding and bowling today was excellent and the game management was so mature for their ages. The team should be really proud of their performance today.
Thanks to the players, to the adults who ran the team and scored and thanks as ever to our fantastic parents and family members for their support and encouragement. The future is bright and I look forward to the new season and seeing lots of children running around and enjoying themselves playing cricket. Let's just hope the rain stops and the grounds dry up. ☀️🏏☀️🏏☀️🏏☀️🏏
