On Monday evening Upton U15’s played New Brighton in our re-arranged Cheshire Cup fixture at Rake Lane. The Team fell just short in their run chase in what was a spirited and promising performance against strong opposition.

New Brighton scored 101 -2 with 2 players retiring reaching 35 in their 20 overs. A key feature of the Upton bowling was that despite some aggression from the batsmen, the bowlers kept their focus sticking to their task well, all returning commendable figures for their 4 over spells; Arnav Sashi 1 for 14, Matt Fielding 0 for 14, Will King 1 for 33, Tom Wood 0 for 16 and Richard Lee 0 for 17. A very rare occurrence in limited over cricket in any age group but especially junior cricket was that the innings did not feature a single wide and only one no ball. There was a lot of positive encouragement in the field and despite some catches going down heads did not drop, testament to the inclusive captaincy of Ben Shields.

In response Upton fell 10 runs short on 91 for 5. Dylan Sanderson played a mature innings of 36 retired and was supported by Tom Maxwell 24, who ably guested for us as part of our partnership with Port Sunlight together with Nathan Jones. A key feature was some positive running and the U 13’s who played for us, Tom, Nathan, and George gained valuable experience, all fully contributing.

We look forward to our next games through our partnership with Port Sunlight in the Cheshire County West League and then the Wirral League in the summer holidays, where we hope to build on the promise, potential and team spirit shown, whilst ensuring that the boys get regular competitive cricket. We wish New Brighton well in the next round.