Match report.
Yorkshire U14A v Nottinghamshire U14, held at Welbeck CC on Tuesday 31st July.
Yorkshire 229-5 (James Blackburn 73, Harry Allinson 55, Matthew Weston 51) beat Nottinghamshire 137 all out (Clarke Doughney 5-11) by 92 runs.
Some early morning rain greeted the lads on arrival to Welbeck CC for their ECB fixture against Nottinghamshire CC. After a quick pitch swap, skipper Matthew Weston won the toss and decided to bat first before striding out alongside James Blackburn to open the batting in a slightly delayed start.
Some strong Notts bowling early on made scoring tough and both openers had to be disciplined to navigate their way through this tough patch. After the first 10 overs the pitch seemed to flatten out and made batting easier with both Weston and Blackburn starting to look to rotate the strike more frequently. The introduction of spin slowed the scoring rate; with it difficult to penetrate the field in order to rotate the strike. With the score on 117, Weston advanced down the wicket only to be undone by a quality piece of bowling from the leg spinner - stumped for a well made 51. Rhys Ditta (10) came in at three and showed attacking intent from ball one, trying to unsettle the spinners before becoming the second stumping victim of the innings. James Blackburn fell shortly after, caught at midwicket, for 73 - registering his maiden A team half century. The rest of the innings belonged to Harry Allinson, who showed excellent timing and placement to make 55 from only 35 balls to add some impetus to the innings; which eventually finished on 229-5 from the allocated 50 overs.
The Notts opening batters came out attacking and putting the pressure on the opening bowlers reaching 39-0 after 10 overs. The introduction of spin twins Jack Young (10-6-20-2) and Clark Doughney (8.2-4-11-5) once again proved to be the turning point in the innings, with regular wickets falling and limited scoring opportunities offered. A wicket each for Weston and Ditta further pegged Notts back before the reintroduction of Doughney finished the Notts resistance for 137 in 44.2 overs as well as taking Clarke to the top of the U14 Royal London Cup bowling rankings and confirming Yorkshire's place at the top of the Group 1 table.
Full scorecard available HERE