August 18th 2024, Lions U19 vs Tokyo Falcons U19

The U19 side had a good, if challenging, outing against the Tokyo Falcons. The Lions went into the match as the underdogs, the Falcons having a very strong and mature side that have won all their games this season and who until today had only 2 (out of 5) teams able to bat out all their overs against them. In addition the Lions were without a wicket keeper (Taiga being injured) and also having recently lots top batsman Tomo, who has returned to the UK.

 

The Lions fielded a 9 man side that was much younger, with many under 15 players, against an experienced side of mainly older players; but rather than give up and take a thrashing the Lions roared and fought hard for the whole match.

 

Lions bowling first, Nived donned the Wikkie gloves whilst Tim, Kirren and Eric plugged away for the first 7 overs. Frustratingly no wickets came, but equally frustratingly for the Falcons their runs were hard to earn and by the end of the 7^th over they only had a total of 47. From the 8^th over Timmy took the Wikkie gloves and the Lions kept up the attack. Sam, bowling with his usual excellent line and length, got the only wicket of the innings helped by a great catch from Eric, in the 12 over. The Falcons, fearing a possible defeat retired one of their players in the 14th over to bring on their strongest batsman Nikhil (U19 MVP 2023). This changed the dynamic but the Lions responded by sticking to their game plan, not being intimidated, and sensibly adjusting their field to the threat. At the end of the Falcons innings they had a total of 166, Eric and Juto were unlucky not to get wickets and bowled 4 solid overs and Kirren stepped up and played the death (final) over when Nikhil and Rithvik were trying to hit everything out of the park. A great performance from all the bowlers, including Mantra who bowled nice spin in the 14^th. And great fielding from everyone - our recent ground fielding practice at training evident in the number of boundaries we stopped.

 

The weather was extremely humid and hot, so the players were welcome for the break even if it seemed too short: by this point many of the players (especially Timmy and Nived who had been wearing a helmet, pads and gloves), were drenched with sweat...the Falcons bowling attack is just as good as their batting, how well could the Lions do?

 

Timmy opened with Kirren and immediately the difference in experience between the two teams could be seen - not because the Falcons outclassed the Lions bowling, but as their field placement and energy was so good. Through the first 4 overs the Lions struggled to score with the opening bowlers, not because of poor batting but because the Falcons fielding was so tight. At the end of the 7^th over the Lions were on 39 (8 runs behind the Falcons at the same point), much of this due to quick running for singles - something the Lions have struggled with in the past. The Lions first Wicket fell in the 8^th over, with Kirren LBW, following which Eric batted with Timmy until the end of the 14^th over when Timmy was caught trying to hit a boundary. Following this the Lions quickly lost batsmen however most importantly they stayed in right to the end with Tatsuku (our final batsman, who at the start of the game was uncertain if he wanted to face bowlers so much older than him, and who was given the choice to retire if he wanted) stepping up to play the last three balls and scoring 2 runs not out! In the end the Lions scored 107, with the top scoring batsman being Timmy on 61.

 

This may seem like a big loss, but this was a good match for many reasons - 1) the Lions played with real spirit, 2) executed a plan, 3) supported each other well and 4) made a team that should have dominated them work hard. Future success is built on learning experiences like this. 

 

Stats: Highest scoring batsman : Timmy (61), best batting strike rate : Timmy (119), most wickets: Sam (1), best bowling economy : Timmy (4.75).

Player of the Match: Timmy

Team:  Eric Harrison, Juto Ball, Kirren Hollow, Mantra Joshi, Nived Namibar, Pratyush Bist, Sam Robinson, Tasuku Imada, Timothy Moore (Captain).

 

(The Falcons umpire and team manager awarded Timmy the PoM for "restricting our batting until the 15th over, keeping his team in the hunt and giving us the opportunity to test our bowling depth" - lets hope they don`t use this practice against us in the finals....)