๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ต ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐
There are some cricket weekends where you look back at the results and think, ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ. This was certainly one of them.
With Muir College visiting for a full weekend of T20 and 50-over cricket, Unionโs teams produced some wonderful individual performances, some hard-fought victories and importantly, plenty of signs of players putting their hands up when their teams needed them most.
And if there was one thing that stood out, it was the sheer number of individual performances that deserve a mention.
2nd Team Reports
The ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ซ๐ got the weekend off to a great start in their T20. After losing early wickets, Union needed someone to steady the ship – and ๐ฆ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฏ๐๐๐๐๐ฒ did exactly that, producing a brilliant ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ผ๐ณ๐ณ ๐ท๐๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐. It was the sort of innings that can completely change the mood of a dressing room and his aggressive stroke play propelled Union to 128.
The bowlers then ensured it went right down to the wire. ๐๐น๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ ๐๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ต๐๐ฎ and Mbutywe both claimed ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐๐ and despite a determined Muir fightback, Union held their nerve to sneak home by just ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐๐ป๐. A proper little thriller.
Saturdayโs 50-over game was a tougher affair, with Muir reaching 113 after some excellent bowling from ๐๐น๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ ๐๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ต๐๐ฎ (๐ฐ/๐ฎ๐ด) and ๐๐น๐ฒ๐ท๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ผ ๐ ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ผ๐ฟ (๐ฎ/๐ญ๐ฌ). Union couldn’t quite find their rhythm with the bat and were bowled out for 44, but there were enough individual positives to take forward. Cricket has a funny way of giving you another opportunity the following week.
U15 Team Reports
The ๐จ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ boys, meanwhile, had a weekend to remember.
They produced ๐๐๐ผ ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ and what was particularly pleasing was the all-round nature of their performances. In the T20, Union posted 155/6, with ๐ฅ๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐๐ leading the way with a composed ๐ฑ๐ฏ, supported by ๐ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ ๐ก๐ฎ๐๐ผ (๐ฎ๐ฎ) and ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฎ (๐ญ๐ณ). Then the bowlers went to work, restricting Muir to 69/8. ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ป capped off a fine all-round contribution with ๐ฏ/๐ฎ๐ด, while ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ช๐ถ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐บ๐๐ฒ (๐ฎ/๐ต) ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐บ๐ป๐ฎ ๐ค๐ผ๐บ๐ณ๐ (๐ญ/๐ฐ) chipped in beautifully.
The 50-over match brought another impressive performance. ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ top-scored with ๐ฐ๐ฐ, with ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ง๐ต๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐๐ผ๐ป (๐ฎ๐ฏ) and ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ถ (๐ฎ๐ฎ) providing valuable support as Union reached 163. Then came a superb bowling display, with ๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐บ๐ป๐ฎ ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ/๐ญ๐ณ, supported by ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐น๐ฒ (๐ฏ/๐ฏ๐ฒ) and ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป (๐ฎ/๐ญ๐ฒ), as Muir were dismissed for 77.
Two matches, two wins and a lovely collection of players contributing at different stages. That’s exactly what you want to see from a young side.
And then there was the ๐ญ๐๐ ๐ซ๐.
The T20 produced the sort of individual performances that will be talked about for a while. ๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐๐บ ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฏ๐ delivered a stellar performance, smashing an unbeaten ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ๐ณ ๐ฒ๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐, with ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฏ as Union piled up an imposing 199.
But if Callum’s innings gave the scoreboard a serious workout, ๐๐ผ๐๐ต ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐๐ถ๐น๐น decided to make the bowling figures look rather special too.
Josh produced a remarkable spell of ๐ฑ ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ท๐๐๐ ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐, including a ๐ต๐ฎ๐-๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ, while conceding only ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐๐ป๐. Nine balls. Five wickets. Three runs. It’s the kind of spell that doesn’t happen very often – and certainly one that deserves a place in the memory bank.
Union went on to win the T20 by a commanding 98 runs.
The 50-over fixture brought another batting masterclass. ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐ป๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐น๐บ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฆ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ got Union off to a solid start with a 48-run opening partnership before ๐๐ผ๐๐ต settled into the innings and recorded his ๐บ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ญ๐๐ ๐ซ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐น๐ณ-๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐๐ฟ๐.
And then ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐๐น๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ธ walked in and, wellโฆ decided that 50-over cricket didn’t necessarily have to be slow.
Jaco smashed ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ผ๐ณ๐ณ ๐ท๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐, reaching his half-century from only ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐. That sort of hitting can turn a good total into a great one very quickly and Union eventually posted a formidable ๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ญ.
They then completed an excellent ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฎ-๐ฟ๐๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐.
So, when you look back at the weekend, there is plenty to celebrate. There were the wins, of course, but perhaps even more encouraging were the individual moments: ๐ฆ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฏ๐๐๐๐ฒ’s explosive 72, Callum’s unbeaten 116, Josh’s five wickets in nine balls and maiden 1st XI half-century, Jaco’s 70 from 29, Thimna’s four-wicket haul, Alchano’s excellent spells and the many younger players who quietly made important contributions around them.
๐ง๐ต๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ถ๐น๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ณ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ.
They are also the moments that remind you why schoolboy cricket is such fun to watch – because you never quite know when a player is going to produce something special.