Year 9 Cricket v. Oriel

Oriel 126-5 Beat Imberhorne 125-8A game of high drama was played between these two evenly matched teams on Monday 19th May 2008 at Windmill Lane. Winning the toss and elected to field, Captain J. Webber opened the bowling with a typically hostile spell. D. Marshall ably assisted from the other end served an array of bamboozling deliveries with his unorthodox spin bowling. The Oriel openers however coped with all that Marshall and Webber could throw at them, until Webber bowled Smith in his final over. As the bowlers rotated so did the score and Oriel quickly raced to 100 with Botham scoring a rapid 50. It wasn’t until T. Gillett joined the attack, that wickets began to fall and he ended up with thre wickets in a good spell. At the end of the innings Oriel had amassed 126. A big score on a pitch with a horribly slow outfield.The ever dependable G. Burden and J. Webber opened the batting and a solid opening partnership looked on the cards until they both fell in quick succession to unusual shots. This brought A. Pelling to the crease, a few lusty blows later and Imberhorne were well up with the required run rate. Pelling assisted by R. James, J. Parrett and D. Marshall moved Imberhorne into a winning position. Alas a quick flourish of wickets handed the advantage to Oriel once again. With two overs remaining Marshall and new batsman "Lillee" (Malcolm and Dennis!) needed 19 from 12 balls. Lillee scored a boundary and some good running between the wickets set up a thrilling finish. Facing the final ball of the innings Marshall required a boundry and despite connecting well with his shot he could only stramble two runs. Defeat.Despite losing the boys equipped themselves very well and can look forward to a good season ahead.