U15 A v Eltham

Saturday 21st June 2014
U15 A v Eltham (home)
Result: Won by 16 runs
Felsted 174 for 6 (30 overs) [W. Buttleman 29, C. Latham 50, A. Lucas 44] Eltham 158 all out (28 overs) [C. Latham 2/30, M. Gilham 3/10, J. King 2/11]

Batting first on a hot day, Felsted raced to 40 before losing Josh King in the 8th over.  Charlie Latham and Will Buttleman added a further 58 for the second wicket, but it was a blistering innings of 44 in just 47 balls from Archie Lucas that set up a challenging total.  Even so, Eltham stuck in the game, by limiting us to just 14 in the last 3 overs, when a total of 200 had been on the cards.

Eltham's reply began badly with an early wicket for Matt Gilham, who bowled a superb 6 overs, taking 3 for 10.  When Josh King took two wickets in the 15th over, Eltham looked down and out at 77 for 4, but Smith (71) and Fuller (37) had other ideas, and with 8 overs to go, both were still at the crease, with just 50 required.  Felsted were flagging.

Captain Charlie Latham brought himself back, and broke the stand first ball, trapping Smith lbw (given by their coach).  Chaos followed, with Gilham (2), Latham and a Mike Barton run out reducing them to 143 for 9.

 Fuller remained, though, and a 5 run penalty for a throw hitting the helmet, was followed by 5 no balls, from a chest high beamer from Mike Barton.  Further chaos, and the game in the balance.  The Eltham number 11, who looked pretty clueless, clung on, while Fuller continued to heave merrily to the leg side (incredibly, all of his 37 runs were scored on the leg side).  With bowling options running out, Latham brought back Mike Barton, whose radar was not quite working at this stage, but the last ball of his over was a knee high full toss, and Fuller, who had been thumping this kind of delivery into the stinging nettles, stopped, thought twice, and chipped a gentle catch to Josh King, to bring victory.