Bella the ball.

Goresbrook U9's put in a most creditable performance against a strong and considerably more experienced Upminster outfit on Thursday evening.
Upminster won the toss and batted first and got off to a flyer as their opening pair hit four boundaries in their undefeated stand of 27. Liam Elsom (1-2) put the brakes on the Upminster charge with a run out off his own bowling and knocking over the stumps in a wicket maiden, but the score after eight overs was still 246-2.
Ollie Fredericks (0-1) entered the attack and was hard to get away going for just one run in his two overs but one of the high lights of the game was a debut wicket for Bella Boland (1-8) who bowled her victim with a well directed ball.
Philippe Thoufick (1-9) nabbed a return catch and Albie Smith and Stanley Sleight both got wickets to restrict the visitors total to 250-7 after the early fireworks made a far more formidable target look likely.
It is to be noted also that the number of extras given away by the team has reduced significantly this season and this is largely down to the players working hard on their line throughout the winter and outdoors since May.
Brook's reply got off to a difficult start as Albert Sleight and Archie Dias were dismissed 4 times in their 4 overs but Albert did hit an impressive boundary in his innings.
Liam Elsom and Harry Ivory (5*) started to make amends with Ivory hitting a lovely pull to the square leg boundary but Elsom offered a return catch to the bowler from the penultimate ball of their innings that the the bowler impressively pushed up before snaffling the rebound.
Goresbrooks youngest pairing of Bella Boland and Ollie Fredericks did their best to keep the score ticking over but lost two wickets in their innings.
Philippe Thoufick impressed with an undefeated 8 including 2 boundaries but the last pairing of Stanley Sleight (11) and Albie Smith (3*) had the nigh on insurmountable task of scoring 34 for their 4 overs. Sleight smashed two fours to give Brook a chance to mount a successful chase but when he was bowled the game was up and petered out to a 24 run defeat.
With another game looming on Sunday week against Harold Wood the youngsters will have the opportunity to continue developing their skills and gaining valuable match experience.