Junior T20

Report by John Bettridge:

Junior Martlets 202 all out. Toby Shepperson 54, Ed Fairfax 27, Harry Drew 21, James Brehaut 20

Junior Band of Brothers 203 for 4. Toby Shepperson 3 for 59

Sadly the Hampshire Hoggets had to withdraw from the scheduled three-way T20 competition between the wandering club junior sides at a late stage. So with the Band of Brothers Juniors we decided to move to the opposite end of the cricketing spectrum and play an all day time game. This was going to be a rare experience for many as practically all school games are played in the limited overs format these days.

The Junior Martlets won the toss and elected to bat. The openers Ash Kumar and Ed Fairfax made a steady start to put on 49 for the first wicket. Harry Moorat fell to the spinner shortly afterwards and this brought Toby Shepperson to the wicket. He is a 15 year old with a sound technique coupled with a good range of shots. His performance became the bedrock of the innings while others seemed to arrive, demonstrate good shots and then depart too early! I have to say they were helped on their way by some outstanding catching. By lunch there was a total on the board of 152 that any side would have been proud of but the 7 wickets that had fallen were the other side of the story. Toby departed shortly after lunch with 54 to his name. James Brehaut, Jake Riddell and Harry Drew did a fine rear guard act to bring the score to a respectable 202.

The Junior Band of Brothers made something of a getaway start until Jake Riddell and Nathan Copper began to stem the flow of runs with Nathan taking the first wicket. Toby Shepperson’s leg spin held the batsmen in check with some back-up from the seamers of Harry Drew, James Brehaut and Rafe Liebers. After 30 overs the score stood at 116 for 4. Three wickets had gone to the leg spin but there was no other spinner in our armoury, which might have made a big difference for no one else was able to make the much needed break-through. A fine 5^th wicket stand of 97 sealed the fate of the game.

All agreed that it had been a fine day’s cricket and the Junior Band of Brother returned home with the Chris Snell Salver, which had be designed for the T20 but it had been decided we would play for it anyway. This was presented to Hugo Pettman, the captain, by Chris Snell.

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