Ian Allcock Woodbank Junior Coordinator
U9s Cricket 6-a-side Indoor Tournament - 6th Annual Tournament (hosted by Bury Cricket Development Group) On Sunday 3rd March 2024 our Woodbank CC U9 team took part in the annual indoor tournament. This was the 6th 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 East Lancs PM, Bury, Elton and Prestwich. Group 2 consisted of Totty St Johns, Stand, Greenmount, Walshaw and Ramsbottom. The event began at 09:00 and the teams played each team 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 2 boys and 4 girls, all year 4 or below. Joe and Max have played several games of U9 last season and of the girls Lyla, Lyla and Jess have all played 2 or 3 games each and Eve was playing her first competitive game for Woodbank. The team was coached by Olivia with Aidan assisting in the morning and Leanne assisted with the scoring.
We began by playing Elton where we scored 136 against Elton’s 150. Next we played Bury and lost by 34 runs, 108 to 142. The 3rd game was against ELPM, who scored 155, in reply we scored 124. Our last match was against the undefeated Prestwich who beat us 152 to 95. So we ended the group phase with no points but with a lot of happy, proud and committed players who received praise from coach Olivia who commented on the effort of the team saying, “we have played some excellent cricket today with some players playing their first games and some playing in the tournament for the first time”.
In a quick competition with a large viewing gallery and people watching it can be a little daunting for the players and so it's an excellent achievement by the team who were close to 3rd place in terms of runs scored. So the first competition for Woodbank CC this season was a great start. Our u9 team will move on to the usual Monday evening mini tournament when the season gets underway in April.
Thanks to the players, to the adults who ran the team and scored and thanks as ever to our fantastic parents for their support and encouragement and feedback to the group. 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. ☀️🏏☀️🏏☀️🏏☀️🏏
