Eagles delight, despite defeat

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Merstham U12 Eagles played Reigate Priory in a cup game on Thursday last week.  Coming off the back of their first win of the season the team were buoyant and positive.  Merstham won the toss and elected to bat but struggled to get early runs on the board, with opening batsman Matthew Greaves falling in the second over.   

Despite Liam Barry hitting an early four to open his run account for the season, Reigate restricted the runs, and Liam and Alvin Sathya struggled to get more than a few quick singles.  

With Alvin caught and bowled in the 11th, Theo Rumistrzewicz came to the crease and quickly hit a few fours, before brother Charlie joined him in the 13th over with the score at 45-3.  

The pair moved the score on to 79 through a number of quick singles, twos and a few boundaries, before they were both were caught out in the 19th.  Merstham reached 82-5 off their 20 overs. 

Reigate Priory made a rapid start before Theo bowled their opening batter in the fourth over leaving Reigate 17-1.  Ten runs later and Alvin took the wicket of the other opener, trapping him leg before wicket.  Merstham continued with a spell of tight fielding, particularly from Eva on the boundary and an outstanding catch by Dom Flynn off the bowling of Charlie.   

An intense focus on the task in hand and a real belief in their own abilities, meant a spell of accurate bowling from Eva, Liam, Charlie and Ben Clements - the latter claiming a wicket with a catch by Charlie - and Reigate struggled to put any substantial runs on the scoreboard.  In the 17th over, Reigate were shouted the instruction to hit out, which unfortunately saw them hit 11 off the over, despite a run out with the last ball, when Reigate required only one run to win.  The winning run was hit off the first ball of the next over and Reigate won by five wickets. 

Despite the loss, the Merstham U12 Eagles' performance was a joy to watch.  The players gelled as a team and upped their game to respectably compete against Reigate Priory.