Match Reports

U15 Claymores v Chippenham

Chippenham 103/3 (20 overs)  Claymores 104/6 (20 overs)

 

Bath Claymores won by 3 wickets

 

A hastily rearranged Claymores team managed to produce ten players for the game, Covid isolations having run riot through the area’s Year 10s.  The hosts won the toss and opted to bat first on a green wicket with long boundaries and a slow outfield.

 

Kit A and Joe T opened the bowling and kept the home side to a limited start, without quite managing to dislodge the opening pair.  A hostile spell by Will R and Genevieve D also went wicketless, Chippenham progressing to 42-0 at the half way point.  Ollie R made the first breakthrough with the first ball of the 11th over, Will R taking a fine catch in the deep.  A good catch by Joe T 6 balls later gave Jerry L a wicket with his first ball, stalling the acceleration that the home team had threatened.  More tight bowling and red hot fielding followed, the Chippenham team restricted to a handful of boundaries, a runout on the last ball concluding their innings for 103 for 3.  23 extras conceded was an unfortunate contribution to the Chippenham score, but a far from insurmountable target for the Claymores as they padded up.

 

Bath’s reply mirrored the first innings, Joe T (14) and Ollie R (18) batting carefully against an accurate attack, steadily accruing runs until Joe fell to a great catch by Emily Smith (also a member of Bath Womens Wanderers’) in the eighth over.  Ollie was joined at the crease by Genevieve D and the pair grafted hard to keep the runs flowing until a moment’s fatal hesitation saw Ollie run out in the 14th over.  With the target in danger of slipping away, Freddie S-M (11) scurried between the wickets brilliantly, stealing extras and turning a number of singles into twos.  His departure invoked a mini collapse, Fabian G (3) caught slogging and Jerry L (1) run out after an unfortunate stumble turning for a second run.

 

With six needed from the final over and the hosts turning to their opening bowler to kill off the Claymores’ challenge, hope seemed lost as Genevieve (29) holed out to extra cover looking for a boundary to seal the match.  However cometh the hour, cometh Kit A (5no) who drove magnificently to long off to tie the scores on the penultimate ball, and confidently struck a single to secure the win with the last ball of the match.

 

A memorable last ball thriller, and a great win for an indefatigable Claymores team!