On Tuesday 24 February, our U13s kicked off the start to their cricket season by taking on Medina College and Christ The King (CTK) in a three-way indoor cricket tournament that would see the overall winner progress to the Island Schools Final later in the term.  After the other two schools played first, the boys were up against Medina and with all three teams having very talented players, the competition was always going to be at a highly competitive level. 

After winning the toss and electing to field first, Medina started strongly, scoring 11 quick runs, but then Logan struck with his fifth ball of the over, followed by taking a second wicket with his final ball of the over. With Joshua taking a wicket in his first over thanks to a superb catch from Oscar on the leg side, followed by Jenson and Jake taking a wicket each thanks to some straight-line bowling resulting in bowling their opponent, Carisbrooke seemed to have put themselves in a winning position.  However, Medina battled back and wagged the tail of the innings to reach a respectable 47 before Joshua spun his way to second wicket thanks to another great piece of fielding, this time from Jake. 

As Carisbrooke came out to bat, Medina put the pressure on, but Logan and Jake put together an opening partnership that could not be broken.  As a result, Carisbrooke reached their target of 48 with a few overs to spare for no loss of wicket and moved on to play CTK in what became the final of the day.  

Carisbrooke again won the toss and elected to field.  CTK came looking to apply pressure early, but Logan and Joshua put together a tidy first couple of overs and, as a result, gave very little away.  The game swung Carisbrooke's way as they took their first wicket thanks to a ball from Jenson.  As the ball was hit onto the leg side again with intensity, Harry, with his arms stretched high above him, managed to take what can only be described as a world-class catch. CTK, however, were not done and took the game to Carisbrooke and, due to not losing any more wickets until Joshua took his first wicket of the match in the seventh over, they had built a healthy target.  The wicket in question came as a result of the ball turning well, which led to the batter taking a full swing at the ball and, as it went like a rocket at Jake, he reached out his left hand and took what not only was the second world-class catch of the game, but quite possibly the best catch ever witnessed for Carisbrooke College.  The way he stared at the ball as it nearly burned a hole in his hand highlighted the incredible reactions of Jake and the courage it took for him to even attempt the catch.  This catch lit the fuse for Carisbrooke and, in the next over, Carisbrooke took three wickets thanks to an LBW achieved by Jenson, a runout and a catch at wicket from Oscar to give Jenson his second wicket of the over. By the time the last ball had been bowled, which saw Logan take the final wicket of the game, Carisbrooke had put themselves into a good position, chasing 64 for the win thanks to some outstanding team fielding, bowling and all-round commitment.

In reply to CTK's 64, Carisbrooke opened with Logan and Jake again. The first few overs saw the boys start like they did in the last game, doing nothing silly and just keeping the runs ticking along as CTK bowled very well, making sure no boundaries were coming easily. However, in the fourth over, as Logan tried to up the run rate, a well struck ball (which most fielders would drop) was caught thanks to some excellent fielding from one of their players.  On the very next ball, the same fielder took our second wicket again. Jenson had to push the runs early and unfortunately was caught off the wall.  As the game looked to be slipping away, up stepped the calm head of Jake, and Oscar who had come out to join him.  Knowing the overs were starting to disappear, they started to play a running game by placing the ball into the corners and running hard between the wickets.  This tactic worked brilliantly and, as they put on 21 between them before losing Jake to a run out which, again, they had to go for, Carisbrooke had brought themselves back into the game.  Joshua came out to bat with Oscar and continued the same tactic until that was, Oscar decided to let loose and put a ball back over everyone's head for six.  When Joshua was eventually run out with only two overs left, the boys needed 10 from the last 12 balls.  Oscar and Harry, now at the wicket, just had to keep calm, but this was easier said than done as CTK turned up the pressure on the field and let nothing past them.  Both Harry and Oscar handled themselves superbly and managed to get us into a position of needing one from the last two balls. However, as Harry tried to break free, CTK just applied more pressure and gave no room, leading to the final score being tied on 64.  

As a result, a "bowl off" never witnessed by Carisbrooke College fans before was used to decide the outcome.  As Carisbrooke and CTK all attempted to hit the wickets one at a time, it was not until Jake the Arrow, as he is now known, stepped up and struck the wickets down. As a result of no further hits on the wickets, Carisbrooke will move onto the finals in a few weeks' time, but it must be said how either team could easily have got through on the day and both sets of players, and also those from Medina, were an absolute credit to their schools in putting together some outstanding team performances which made for an enjoyable afternoon at the cricket.  

Personal highlights:

Harry aka Tufnell – wicket-keeping, superb spin bowling, world-class catch and nerves of steel to bring us home.

Oscar aka Jos – catching for fun, wicket-keeping and a middle order batting performance to celebrate for the rest of his career.

Jake aka Jonty- Bowling consistency, catching like Jonty Rhodes in the 90s, batting like a seasoned professional to keep his team together and set them up to finish. 

Jenson aka Jofry - Bowling pace and taking wickets of top class batters and keeping the team's spirits up in the field.  Looking forward to seeing the batting unleashed in the finals. 

Joshua aka Moeen – spin bowling like Moeen Ali and taking dangerous wickets, changing batting style to what the game needed.

Logan aka Stokes, led his team from the front with both bat and ball and set the standard for others to follow, took multiple wickets and piled on the runs. 

Well done boys and, as always, it is a pleasure to see how well you work as a team.