Goresbrook outshine Romford side

Goresbrook under 11s put in an excellent all round performance to beat Romford and Gidea Park on Sunday morning. Under clear skies and warm sunshine Goresbrook won the toss and put Romford into bat. Opening bowler George Smith swung the ball around nicely and struck in his first over and conceded only a single scoring shot of the bat during his spell. He was ably assisted by Callum Owen who took his first ever wicket. Youngsters Ted Ivory and George Sleight put in an excellent four overs against more experienced batsman and kept the scoring rate down, George Sleight finally got reward for his hard work by way of a fine catch by Tamid Kondakar. His younger brother Stanley couldn’t match his wicket but more than held his own with a spell of bowling that included a maiden.

Ted Ivory moved the ball around nicely without reward and Nathan Dalridge showed good potential. The penultimate bowling change led to the introduction of Tamid Kondakar. Kondakar was immediately on his line and length and three of his wickets were excellent deliveries that moved back into the batsman before knocking over the timbers. As well as taking wickets Kondakar was economical and this frustrated the batsman leading to a rash shot that Kondaker caught himself. The most pleasing aspect of this innings was they way that Goresbrook fielded and bowled. Wides and no-balls were kept to a minimum and not one overthrow was conceded.

George Smith and Sam Wood opened the batting, Smith managing to see off the lively opening bowlers before brothers Sleight came to the crease. Both batted well, Stanley with excellent defensive shots and George with the complete opposite. They were followed By Callum Owen and Nathan Dalridge who stole the show with a 47 run partnership. Owen showed no remorse to the bowlers with a quick fire 30, he mixed power with precision as he found gaps in the field hitting the boundary seven times in only his second Under 11 match. Dalridge supported Owen well and hit two fours of his own in an unbeaten 11. These two batsman took advantage of any fielding lapses and managed to find additional runs throughout their knock.

Ivory and Kondakar were next to the crease and they batted well to cement Goresbrooks advantage before Parnell and Gillham came in at the end of the innings. After nearly losing a wicket with a quick single mix up, Parnell hit 11 with two excellent fours before Gillham finished the innings with a huge six to match Parnell's score. A fine victory for Goresbrook with excellent performances from Owen and Kondakar stealing the limelight as they should. The performances from Stanley Sleight and and Nathan Dalridge shouldn’t go unnoticed though as they both showed excellent potential.