Blackheath Cricket Club, Cricket Week

Blackheath CC U13s Tour to Devon 2012

Tour Overview

As with previous years, the Blackheath CC U13s 2012 tour was as keenly anticipated by the parents and helpers as the boys themselves. There is an extremely good “team” spirit that runs throughout the whole squad and this was again displayed admirably over the tour to Witheridge, Devon.

Chris Poil, Head Coach, took the brave decision to send two teams (21 boys in total) and arranged six games during Saturday and Sunday morning. This ensured that all the boys played three games and made the most of the time available. On the other hand it meant that the two sides put out were a blend of ability and as a result the boys had their work cut out, particularly on the first day.

Many of the boys arrived having had a very active previous week due to school commitments and this, combined with high spirits and late nights, meant that they were performing on low battery power but managed superbly.

Friday Night

Only a few parents fell for Chris Poil’s idea of having a team meeting at our Witheridge accommodation at 7.30pm, the rest arrived throughout the evening and the meeting was finally arranged for 9.30pm. Rules and goals were decided upon with the boy’s involvement and the key ones were as follows;

Respect for property, opposition, each other, the coaches and parents
Fun and enthusiasm
Play hard and play to win
Never give up
Look after each other

After the meeting the parents enjoyed some time together, sponsored by Peroni, whilst the boys played and swam in the in-door pool (supervised).

Saturday Morning

Chris began the classroom session on Saturday morning with an inspirational DVD on England’s cricket team and success. This got everybody in the mood. Two team building games / exercises followed involving the boys having to work out the quickest ways of completing the tasks whilst cooperating to develop and improve upon their plans. This proved to be highly competitive with both sides giving a good account of themselves.

After this the boys and parents divided into the two teams that were to play that morning. A side went to Blundell’s School to play them, whilst the other team went up to Witheridge for a game against our hosts. Word had got around from last year that Blackheath were a very competent club and they had clearly lined up stiffer opposition.

Blackheath CC U13s vs. Blundell’s School

Blundell’s are one of the top cricketing public schools in the southwest. Blackheath were put into bat on a windy and often showery morning and struggled to accumulate runs either quickly or cheaply. The bowling and fielding was extremely good and this, coupled with long boundaries and a slow damp outfield, meant that Blackheath were only 34 for 5 off 12 overs. As predicted by Chris Poil, the “pudding” wicket meant that the ball was keeping low and slow and as a result many catches were put up in the air and they were all caught. Apart from Toby Pakenham, all other wickets fell to catches. The innings was rescued to some extent by some very determined and aggressive batting by Michael Upfold 10 runs and Jamie Bloomfield 35 runs and Harry Turner 11 runs, both of which were not out at the end. Blackheath posted a target of 102 and felt that this may just be enough if there were some early wickets.

Blundell’s innings was clinical and impressive with one of their batsmen making a 50 before being retired. They achieved the target with 5 overs still spare, despite Paddy Field and William Melhuish taking 2 wickets each. Harry Turner took 2 good catches and Michael Upfold, a calm one handed catch in the deep.

Blackheath CC U13s vs. Witheridge

The Blackheath team at Witheridge ended up playing a round robin 6 a side tournament supervised by Blackheath Coaches Hamish Whiteman and James Turner. In the first match Witheridge batted first and were kept to 21 runs off their 8 overs by some tidy bowling from Seb Rimmer, Felix Nicklin and Theo Gloyens. A wicket each was taken by Theo Gloyens, Mark Munroe and Chris Thompson. Blackheath batting second, soon lost their openers, but Theo, 17 runs not out (including 4 boundaries) and Chris Thompson 8 not out (including 2 boundaries) saw us home to victory. In the second match of the morning for the boys playing at Witheridge they faced tougher opposition. Witheridge managed to get a strong total of some 40 runs and we were all out for 18, as wickets fell trying to keep up with the required rate. Nonetheless, an excellent mornings cricket for the boys.

The whole squad met for a BBQ lunch back at Witheridge before a team set off back to Blundell’s School for another game in the afternoon against a younger Blundell’s side.

Saturday Afternoon

Blackheath CC U13’s vs. Blundell’s School

It quickly became apparent on arriving at Blundell’s that the weather could play an important part in the proceedings, which it duly did.
However, the game did get underway with Blackheath putting Blundell’s into bat. The mood in the field was buoyant and on occasions borderline silly. As the opposition Umpire said so adroitly “they look like they are on tour!” Unfortunately this lack of concentration by some of the team gave Blundell’s a fantastic start, capitalising from a dropped catch on the very first ball and going on to score over 100 in ten overs. Admittedly the boundaries were very short!

Jamie Bloomfield (capt), deciding that his team were the favourites to win, gallantly spread the bowling around the team which allowed Mark Munroe and Christopher Thompson to show some very economical and accurate bowling. Jamie Bloomfield did, after some prompting, decide to bowl himself and took a double wicket maiden. However, Blackheath had not put in enough concerted effort and the young but talented Blundell’s (including 3 county players) ended up scoring 165, an extremely challenging score.

The conditions worsened and both Umpires agreed to carry on with Blackheath’s innings despite many handfuls of sawdust. As feared, the bowling was tight and the fielding solid. Blackheath struggled to make a promising start and quickly fell behind the asking rate. Luckily, after yet another down pour, the Umpires decided that the conditions were proving dangerous with one of the bowlers slipping over and abandoned the game, giving Blackheath a fortuitous draw. Prompted by Blackheath Coach Guy Pakenham, the reflection in the changing room after the game was honest and revealing with the boys admitting that they had underestimated their opposition and not applied themselves to the game from the outset. The main lesson learned by the boys was that the first over / balls are critical to setting the tone and laying down the gauntlet to the opposition.

Blackheath CC U13s vs. East Devon District

Back at Witheridge, the other Blackheath team took on an East Devon District team.
East Devon batted first and with the benefit of some generous home umpiring decisions amassed a total of 164 runs of 30 overs. A number of the bowlers did well including Paddy, Michael Upfold, Luke Hunter and William Melhuish. The East Devon boys played sensible cricket defending the good balls and attacking the bad ones. A strong total but one we felt we could get if we employed the same tactics.
Sadly, with tiredness setting in, our top 3 batsmen were removed without scoring leaving us a mountain to climb. There was then an incredibly spirited fight led by Michael Upfold and ably supported by first Luke Hunter and then Marco Rolandelli.
Michael followed the instructions to play sensibly and scored a very mature 26 runs before being unlucky to be out. Luke Hunter got a good 12 runs before again being unlucky to be run out. Marco Rolandelli played beautifully for 25 runs, the absolute highlight being a straight six that was still climbing as it passed the boundary ropes.
One coach was heard to say, it was worth coming to Devon just to see that shot. As we had only 9 batsmen and the other Blackheath team had now returned from Blundell’s, Jamie Bloomfield and Toby Pakenham were pressed into service. Jamie batted aggressively to score 26 runs before being bowled to bring the Blackheath innings to an end on 109. A gallant defeat particularly considering the start to our innings.

Saturday Night

Swimming, beef casserole, cakes and early nights for everybody! Unfortunately Rupert suffered from a nasty tummy bug (not combining fizzy coke and a trampoline as the boys advocated) and played no further part in the cricket, leaving early the next morning.

Sunday Morning

Better weather combined with a better nights sleep to produce the best games of the tour. Following a shortened team classroom session where the principles of team work and developing plans/tactics were reiterated, two teams set off, not to meet again that tour. One to Witheridge to face an Invitation team with Blundell’s boys and the other to Clyst Hydon to face Kentisbeare. It was particularly pleasing to see and hear the boys come up with plans and tactics during the games that morning and adjust them as the situations developed.

Blackheath CC U13s vs. Kentisbeare at Clyst Hydon

On a large but very pretty ground, Blackheath batted first. After a reasonably solid start featuring Marco Rolandelli scoring 12 runs, a mini collapse bought Paddy to the wicket. He steadied the ship for an excellent 32 runs well supported by Ben Taylor and Theo Gloyens to help us post a score of 86 runs off our 20 overs. A competitive score given the size of the boundaries. Kentisbeare made solid progress but lost wickets regularly meaning they struggled to keep up with the necessary run rate. Huw Whiteman and Luke Hunter took 2 good wickets each, well supported by Paddy Field, Marco Rolandelli and William Melhuish, who took one wicket each. Kentisbeare finished on 64 runs. A good Blackheath win, a good performance and a great way to finish the Tour for this team and the Blackheath Coaches Hamish Whiteman and Tim Taylor.

Blackheath CC vs. Witheridge Invitational XI

Blackheath put Witheridge into bat following a lively and enthusiastic practice session (including one of the coach’s son been shown there was still life left in the legs of his old man) and immediately performed well with Seb Rimmer taking a catch on the first ball of the innings, in total contrast to the game the afternoon before. The gauntlet was down and Blackheath’s chins were up. Accurate bowling, encouragement in the field and catches held meant that Witheridge struggled to post a challenging score, ending on 92 for 8 after 25 overs. Again a number of the less recognised bowlers performed well including Mark Munroe and Christopher Thompson again.

Blackheath were clearly in the driving seat and knew it. However, the response started with a quick wicket as Toby Pakenham sent an easy catch to mid off, unfortunately not reading the slow wicket.
Despite this set back Josh Van de Meulan and Harry Poil started to put together a solid and sensible innings always staying within the asking rate. With limited overs some boys don’t always get a bat and it was particularly pleasing to see Josh open the innings and score an impressive 27. Harry Poil was retired at 30 and thoroughly deserved his applause. Blackheath ended up needing only 20 runs off 10 overs which Jamie Bloomfield and Michael Upfold made short work of. Blackheath won convincingly and played to their potential. It was an extremely good finish to the tour and proud parents and coaches watched the team raise the Witheridge Colts Challenge Cup!

Summary

A big thank you to everyone who made the tour possible. To all the coaches, the Nicklins for organising the tour, the help in developing the team building exercises and to all the parents who did so much to make things run so smoothly. Also, Witheridge for being such great hosts. Some excellent cricket was played and hopefully the boys learnt some important lessons about cricket and life!!