Match reports.
Yorkshire U12A v Warwickshire U12, held at Lightcliffe CC on Wednesday 4th July 2018.
Yorkshire 155-7 (Sabir Mahmood 61) beat Warwickshire 154 all out (Jack Redshaw 3-9) by 3 wickets.
Warwickshire won the toss and batted on an excellent pitch in perfect batting conditions. They got off to a quick start until Leo Wilson (5-1-10-2) took two quick wickets. The introduction of the spinners slowed the scoring rate, but Warwickshire were playing some excellent shots - Game on! Wickets fell at regular intervals, led by the spinners and Jack Redshaw (5-1-9-3), before Finlay Hill (5.2-2-23-2), on his home ground, came back to clean up the tail for a competitive 154.
In reply, Yorkshire got off to a steady start, but then lost wickets steadily to collapse to 33 for 4. The game was swinging towards Warwickshire and needed a big innings from a Yorkshire batsman. Sabir Mahmood (61) managed to do that and held the innings together excellently before great support from Louie Owens (23*) and Elliot Robinson (10*) turned the game. Yorkshire were victorious with an over to spare in an outstanding game of cricket which could have gone either way.
Yorkshire’s fielding and bowling was again very good and Sabir Mahmood’s 61 paved the way to another Yorkshire success.
Full scorecard available HERE.
Yorkshire U12A v Staffordshire U12, held at Spen Victoria CC on Sunday 8th July 2018.
Yorkshire 211-4 dec (Jawad Akhtar 63*, Sabir Mahmood 54, Rohan Ratnalingham 25) beat Staffordshire 112 all out (Tom Burton 4-37).
Staffordshire won the toss and elected to bowl on another sunny day, on a hard pitch. Runs came steadily throughout the Yorkshire innings with Rohan Ratnalingham (25), Sabir Mahmood (54), Tom Wood (19*) and an excellent innings from Jawad Akhtar (63*) led Yorkshire to a commanding total of 211 for 4, with Yorkshire declaring with 2 overs remaining.
Staffs lost wickets at regular intervals in their reply. After the seamers had made an early breakthrough, it was the spin of Tom Burton (9-1-37-4) on his home ground, backed up by Elliot Robinson (5-3-5-2), that bowled Staffs all out for 112. A special mention has to go to T Wylie of Staffordshire who batted excellently to finish on 63 not out.
An exceptional all round performance from the Under 12s in all three areas: batting, bowling and fielding.
Full scorecard available HERE.
A solid start to the season so far, but there are challenging fixtures ahead, culminating in the Rugby Festival at the end of August, involving Warwicks, Middlesex and Surrey.