HYTHE & DIBDEN CRICKET CLUB

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HYTHE UNDER 15's vs LYMINGTON

23rd May @ Hythe

LYMINGTON TOO STRONG FOR WEAKENED HYTHE

Kieran CHALMERS 18	Richard JONES 2-20

A terrific team performance by Hythe U15s was not enough to overcome a strong Lymington side but they truly pulled together and whilst they lost, they went down fighting as a team! Despite Hythe having a year 9 dominated team against a Lymington team dominated by year 10s, they put on a first class bowling and fielding performance which was a total turn around from the first home game two weeks ago where they looked very rusty. This was also despite James Bidwell making his debut as a wicket keeper (doing a great job too);  Chris Griffin pulling a muscle in his arm early on but continuing with a great attitude and  Jonathan O'Brien making his Hythe and Dibden debut (who fielded very well too). 

All in all the bowling was very accurate and the fielding was excellent, a bit more chat and encouragement in the field was the only area to improve upon. Two wickets for Richard Jones and one each for Kieran Chalmers and Alex Nicholas helped keep the runs at bay.  Josh Mead proved the most economical giving away only 10 runs from 4 overs and Marc Reid backed them up with a very good four over spell of spin bowling, his first 4 over spell for the club. Lymington closed the 18 overs on 109 for 4 which was a vast improvement on the fixture two years ago when they made a huge 160+ I seem to recall. 

Very quick accurate bowling from Lymington strangled Hythe's opening pair of skipper Kieran Chalmers and Jack Knight-Owen to just 1 run from the first 2 overs! However some great defensive shots were required just to survive! Having just managed to start the scoreboard ticking over Jack was bowled without scoring despite a great improvement shown since last season in some of his previous defensive shots. In came Richard Jones who struck the ball as clean as a whistle but unfortunately picked out the only fielder in approximately a 30 yard radius and had to walk off without scoring which was a shame as he's got some good quick runs in him normally. 

Next up was Josh Mead who immediately hit a boundary and along with Kieran they began to make a few runs. Sadly Josh was next to go having made 6 closely followed by Tom Smith who made 1, both holing out to catches. In came James Bidwell to partner Kieran. Unfortunately having seen off the opening bowlers and starting to up the pace Kieran drove one, which despite arriving at the fielder at shin height, was very well caught much to the skippers annoyance who left having made 18. This left James Bidwell, who hit some of his best shots for Hythe, to form a good partnership with Alex Nicholas who played some intelligent shots and helped push the score along.

With overs running out James was bowled out having made 7 which brought Nathan Froggett to the crease. The quicks were back on by now which made scoring very difficult again but the boys did their best, Nathan was bowled for 1 and on the last ball of the innings Marc Reid was run out without facing a delivery (not sure who from the clubhouse shouted for them to run but they never stood a chance!). It left Alex on a creditable 10 not out and drew a close to a spirited team effort against some good Lymington bowling. Hythe made 54 for 8 from their 18 overs.        

A significant difference between the teams was that Lymington miscued around 3 or 4 times but seemed to have the knack of getting the ball to drop painfully into safety between fielders whereas Hythe seemed to be able to pick Lymington's fielders out with almost pinpoint accuracy.   All in all, despite the loss there were a lot of positives to take from the game for the Hythe boys, not least of all a strong togetherness which they will need as they look forward to a trip to Totton and Eling next week! 

Toss Won by : Hythe

Innings of : LYMINGTON 109 For 4 (18 Overs)

Hythe Bowling

Innings of : HYTHE 54 For 8 (18 Overs)

Lymington Bowling