South Essex District Under 13 semi-final : 2 September
After a push to play outstanding games, and with further adjudications from the league, Rayleigh qualified for the semi-finals as runners up in the Eastern section to Westcliff. Their reward was a game away to Wickford – winners of the Western section. Wickford won the toss on a sunny Sunday morning and elected to field. Against some accurate early bowling, the top 4 struggled to get the innings going except for Matt Dobson whose 27 not out (including 1 massive 6 narrowly missing my car!) proved ultimately decisive. It was left to Josh Jones 13 not out and Conor Slough 11 (both at better than a run a ball) to increase the rate and help push Rayleigh up to 97 – but would that be enough?
Two early wickets – 1 each for Josh and Matt – combined with a tight line had Wickford at 8-2. Further good spells from Max and Mihir then had Wickford at 40-6 with Mihir taking a match best 3-19 and another wicket for Max. Behind the run rate, Wickford tried to push on but more good bowling from Henry 1-13, Harry Mole 1-5 and Owen meant that despite a big last over, Wickford fell 10 runs short and Rayleigh had qualified for the final.
Rayleigh 97-5 bt Wickford 87 all out
South Essex District Under 13 final : 9 September
And so to Woodside…… The final saw another beautifully sunny day (where was all this in June?). Rayleigh welcomed back Craig Smith and Alec Bateman into the team and there was a debut for Adam Bailey. Westcliff batted first and made an imposing looking 120-5. The boys all bowled well enough, but Westcliff’s batting was strong and there were some unfortunate drops and slips in the field. Pick of the bowlers were Conor Slough 2-23 and Josh Jones 1-20 and there were 2 neat stumpings from Joe Barnett. We were going to have to score our highest total of the season to win but hope sprang eternal.
Max Jones led the way with a typically neat 25 not out at nearly a run a ball. This laid the foundation for Matt Dobson to come up trumps again with a stunning innings of 26 not out off only 18 balls and we were now in with a chance. Josh Jones (9) and Conor Slough(18) kept us up with the rate, scoring at a run a ball. The rest of the boys put in a big effort, swinging big and running hard but Rayleigh fell an agonising 6 runs short in the end.
The boys did themselves and the club proud and the game was played in a good spirit but ultimately we were left second best. Roll on the indoor season in November and here’s hoping for a better outdoor season in both a cricketing and weather sense next year.
Westcliff 120-5 bt Rayleigh 114-7 by 6 runs
Chris Slough