A great game that went down to the final 4 overs. With Paul Long umpiring for the first time, mistakes were bound to be made, including not noticing George wasn't ready for the bowler resulting in him being bowled out and not giving a wide to the bowler against his own son, and even the square leg umpire was perplexed!

Well done to the whole team, many of whom were playing for the first time or only their second time. Full details including ball-by-ball, score cards, worm, wagon wheels and scoring zones can be found here https://suttoncoldfield.play-cricket.com/website/results/7058963

Smethwick won the toss and elected to bat.

Here's an overview of the key moments in the game with thanks to Ian Rivers for taking notes to remind me of what happened and when (Play Cricket doesn't always tell the full story):

1st batting pair:
George bowled a wicket that wasn't a wicket!! It most definitely hit the stumps, but the rules are that the bails must come off. I gave them a good wobble and those bails were very stubborn. He then bowled the other team out for a real wicket on his last ball of the over resulting in a wicket maiden over (the one bye doesn't count against the bowler). Tom then followed 2 balls later with another wicket bowled and restoring the team's faith in the bails. This left Smethwick with a net score of just 201 on the scoreboard.

2nd batting pair:
These 4 overs saw 3 very new bowlers for Sutton with one playing his first ever game and two of them only their second game. They did well to keep the partnership to 36 with a net score of 237.

3rd batting pair:
Ahana bowled a direct hit to the wickets on her final ball and only giving away one run during the over and this followed by a first wicket for Abe with an excellent take from Caleb with the gloves. Well done Abe on a wicket in only your second game. This resulted in the net score only increasing by 5 to 242.

4th batting pair:
Caleb swapped his keeping gloves with Eric for the final 4 overs. The 13th over was a tricky one but then George came to the wicket an not only got a second maiden over but clearly put the batting pair off their game as Caleb ran them out. Incredible bowling from George who has impressed so much since winter nets with such great bowling. The next over saw another bowled wicket, this time from Caleb on his last ball, followed by caught and bowled by Tom on his first ball of the final over. We usually rely upon Tom for the last over to ensure there are no wides or no balls, but he went much further and got a second wicket with a direct bowl to the stumps. Those last 4 overs only saw a net score of one added to the total, leaving us with 243 to chase

It was then time for us to bat. Ahana and Geo stepped up as the first batting pair and despite a wicket against Ahana, they managed a good partnership of 17 leaving a net score of 212 at the end of their time between the stumps. This was particularly good as Ahana is actually an U10 player and this was Geo's first game.

We then had the power house that is Tom and George. They settled in very nicely with 9 runs in the first over and then 16 in the second over including 3 boundaries. Over 8 saw me get my umpiring wrong and didn't spot George wasn't ready for the bowler which unfortunately resulted in being bowled out, total credit to the bowler, but totally undeserved by George. Some great communication between them and excellent shot selection saw them run a great partnership of 32, adding a net of 27 to bring the score to 240, taking the some of the pressure off for the second half of the innings.

Next up were Avi and Abe, both only on their second game and both did well hanging in against some decent bowling. They only lost one wicket each which is good going for their second game and a bit of confusion at the end saw a run out, but it happens to the best of players. Well done on keeping going and defending a lot of balls plus a respectable partnership of 13.

The final power house of Eric and Caleb came into bat knowing that they only needed to keep to a net score of 6 which meant careful defensive batting and building up runs between the stumps. Eric made a good start facing his first ball with a boundary and both of them managed to protect their wickets and kept the score ticking against two excellent bowlers in the last four overs of the game, achieving a partnership of 20. They had a conversation before the final over and decided to just defend the lead they had built up by playing it safe so well done for using their cricket brains and putting the team first.

My man of the match has to go to George who supported Tom's 19 runs excellently, building up some quick singles at the non-striker end and his own boundary, but mostly for his bowling economy of zero which is an amazing achievement and although just one wicket on the scorecard, there were really two. As umpire, I could also see how many balls were going directly towards George's middle wicket and he kept defending them ball after ball. Tom's 19 runs also deserves a special mention and I'm proud of the whole team for putting in such a good effort, for supporting the newer players and working really well as a team. As captain, Tom awarded our opposition player of the match to F Ahmad for his excellent bowling.

Looking at the worm, it really was down to the final over of the game which made this a particularly exciting one. If it was only down to runs, Smethwick would have taken this match by one run, but 8 wickets taken by Sutton secured the win.