Hot temperatures and blue skies greeted the players for the last match of our u15 campaign with still lots to play for as we not only needed to win but win by a huge margin in order to secure the Divisional title. It was the fourth use of Pitch 6 which continued to provide an excellent batting track but offered pace, occasional movement off the seam and a degree of turn to our bowlers as our visitors batted first.

Our usual opening bowlers of Arch & Oliver shared the first 6 overs from the “car park end”. After a very tight-fisted first four overs it was Oliver who got the breakthrough with the second ball of his second over as he knocked over the stumps to leave Lilleshall on 6-1. Arch then got in on the act as Oliver took a comfortable catch at extra cover as the other opener fell with the score at 10-2. With the first 6 overs completed and the Shropshire team struggling at 16-2 it appeared that the match was one-way traffic. Harvey and Arran shared the next six overs and bowled tidily enough however with a combination of sloppy fielding and good batting from our visitors the title appeared to be going away from us as the Lilleshall skipper and his number three put on 51 from 48 balls. Two catches went down and at least two run-out chances were missed before Oliver threw the ball to medium pacer James and it appeared that a third miss was on the cards as Arch threw in from short extra cover and Sam failed to cleanly gather the ball. However fortune smiled on us as the ball bounced off the keeper onto the wicket and the captain was out for a well made 27 off 34 deliveries.

With Lilleshall on 67-3 and only a third of the match remaining it appeared that we might get close to our target of keeping them below 100 runs as James and Jack continued from the farmyard end and were followed by Emelia and Wes. None of these bowlers could add to the wickets column and the Lilleshall number three was now forging a new partnership with the number five. With the partnership at 32 Lauren entered stage right and removed the number five for 19 as Harvey took the catch at mid wicket amid Lauren’s rather low-key celebration of her first u15 wicket.

With the visitors on 102-4 Oliver then pulled off a tactical master stroke as he brought back Arch for the ‘death over’ who, now bowling from the “farmyard end” didn’t take long to both improve the bowling team’s economy and take the number three’s wicket - bowled first ball. On his third delivery Arch had the number seven caught at mid-off by James before slightly blotting his copybook with his only wide delivery of the match. However he finished the over with two dots and a bowled as he removed the number eight to end the innings with figures of 4 overs, 1 maiden, 4 wickets for 10.

Church were disappointed with their fielding performance at the interval with Lilleshall having made 104 for 7 from their 20 overs - at least 20 runs too many given the numerous squandered opportunities to have bowled them out. Reports from the Wellington v Allscott Heath game indicated that Wellington would have an easy chance of improving their net run rate in order to overtake us at the top of the table. Nevertheless we still had the opportunity to bat well and try to knock off the total in as few overs as possible in order to improve our own net run rate and maintain our position.

Arran and Harvey opened the batting for Church as usual and were immediately in control - taking quick singles to rotate the strike but taking no risks as they settled in to their task. Arran was quickly into his work ably assisted by left-hander Harvey and apart from a couple of uppish drives from Harvey were rarely troubled. By the time the 7th over had come around both batsmen were looking to play more aggressively as they sought to improve our net run rate and this resulted in Lilleshall’s first wicket as Arran tried to drive an excellent Yorker which removed his middle stump.

With the score at 52-1 skipper Oliver replaced Arran in the middle as he moved himself up the batting order to further Church’s championship hopes. He wasn’t long at the crease but his arrival had the desired effect as when he departed two overs later - caught at mid-off for 11 off 8 balls - the score had moved on to 68-2. Arch came in at number four and he and Harvey kept the score rate going at around 8 per over as we reached 82 before Harvey went tamely in the 10th over - caught & bowled for 22 off 25 balls whilst mis-timing a drive. James came in next and with Arch in splendid attacking form they set about dismantling the Lilleshall bowling in short order as we won with 105 for 3 in 12 overs and 2 balls. Arch and James both finished unbeaten with 21 off 12 and 8 off 4 respectively.

At stumps there was some debate amongst the players, parents and coaches as to whether we had done enough to increase our net run rate given that Wellington had appeared to be well on top in their match at the innings break. We had a nervous wait for their result to appear on Play-Cricket but when it did we were still top (we have led the division from first game to last) although Wellington had managed to equal our net run rate so we are joint champions!

Every player tried their hardest but Arch was man of the match for his superb all-rounder performances with bat, ball and in the field - run close by Arran & Harvey with the bat and Oliver with bat, ball and in the field.

Thanks go to all parents for giving their support but with particular thanks to Yvonne for setting up and managing the kitchen/bar area, Gav for assisting behind the bar and operating the scoreboard, John for bringing in the marker discs and putting on the covers assisted by some of the players. Thanks also to my fellow coaches - Paul for scoring and assisting in putting out the stumps and Rich for tidying up the pavilion and emptying the bins xx