Brothers lead U17s to league victory over U16s

Merstham U16 95/8 (20), Merstham U17 96/3 (13.4)

Merstham U17s won by 7 wickets

Three sets of brothers helped Merstham U17s to a league win over Merstham U16s in the Under 17 T20 Tier 2 South East division.

The U17s won the toss and put the U16s in to bat. U16 batter Matthew Evans top scored with an impressive 34 off 44 balls, with other notable innings by Hamish Walker (15) and Jasper Parsons (13).

However, the total of 95/8 off their 20 overs looked unlikely to be a winning one.

Five U17 bowlers shared the wickets with two each to Matt Retter and spinner James Cripps, and one for Matt Cripps, Adam Yeoll and Jude McRobbie, the latter's being one of two catches by younger brother Flynn. The final wicket was a run out by Luca Retter.

U17 partnerships of 56 and 34 by James Pieters (38 off 34) with twins Luca (17) and Matt Retter (22) helped the older team to reach their target off 13.4 overs. Wickets were shared with one each for Fin Wilsher, Ben Jones and Kit Whelan.

It was wonderful to witness a great spirit between two teams who know each other well.