Frampton provided our SDCA Cup semi final opposition this evening in an 8-a-side 20 over winner makes the final encounter. Daniel approached the square as tonights captain and came back with the news he had won the toss and decided to start the game in the field.

George and Will opened the bowling with Will knocking over a couple of their top order with some lovely straight fast bowling. Cam and Charlie followed on from George and Will, Cam settling in to bowl some great stuff on debut, Charlie pinning down the batsmen and halting the scoring. Zac took an opportunists stumping to remove a batsman with some great game awareness. Jake and Daniel joined the attack and all did well to keep the wickets falling with a great run out by Charlie from the deep and Zac taking another run out. In the end Frampton finished the 20 overs with 1 wicket in hand and 129 on the board.

Hawkesbury knew 130 would be a tall order, but the pitch looked like one that was to favour the batsmen - Zac and George opened up (Well done Zac for keeping and then opening - good shift mate!), with Zac connecting with a couple of lovely boundaries early on, Will replaced Zac at the crease and looked in fine form - connecting with some lovely shots until the rather pivotal moment of the game occurred - I was doing throw-downs with some of the debutants so was not watching the game at the time to witness it, but has been reported to me that Will received a beamer above his waist height which dipped late and broke the bails - square leg and bowlers end umpire had a disagreement on the out or not decision and after a little confusion, Will left the field given out by the bowlers end umpire…. Hawkesbury dug in, despite the boys feeling a little hard done by, Charlie looking superb out in the middle with some glorious stroke play. Unfortunately, the middle order and tail found the Frampton spin wizard hard to read and a succession of quick wickets left Charlie stranded 45* with Hawkesbury falling short with a total of 111 all out - just 19 short.

Notable U13 debuts this evening from Cam and Rupert who stepped up from U11s to help fill the gaps in the U13s team due to some injuries and unavailabilities. Thanks very much for making yourselves available guys - Lots more opportunities next year when you join the U13s squad.

Been a pleasure working with you all this season - last game is booked in for Thursday 22nd away vs Tetbury. If you can make the game can you mark your availability in pitchero please - Not sure we will have enough as I know some are away (including me!), so be good to see if it’s feasible or not. Its very noticeable how all players have developed so much throughout the season - look forward to facing their bowling at the Coaches vs kids game in the summer. Have a good off-season and come back strong in 2022 for another great year. Well played all.

Jon