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Under 19’s Report by Paul Greetham
Yorkshire 1st Innings – 347 all out
Warwickshire 1st Innings – 93 all out
Warwickshire 2nd Innings – 351 for 9 (following on)
Yorkshire (22 points) defeated Warwickshire (8 points) on
1st innings
With a much changed team affected by 2nd XI call ups
and the U17 National competition, on another good wicket it
was inevitable that the toss would go against Warwickshire
yet again! The Warwickshire bowlers fought hard throughout
day one and although there were no early breakthroughs,
they contained well and wickets eventually tumbled in the
second and third sessions. Spin once again conquered
with three wickets apiece for off spinners Michael Waugh
and Austin Crump. Unfortunately, with 12 overs left in
the day, the Warwickshire top order succumbed to fiery
opening spells from the Yorkshire seamers, losing four
wickets for only 25 runs. Matters did not get much better
early on day two, with the remaining batsman only adding
a further 68 runs. With Yorkshire asking the Bears to follow
on and trying to avoid an innings defeat, it was time for the
batsman to dig deep on what was still a good surface to
bat. Fortunately they did just that, and with around half an
hour to go in the match, it was clear that Yorkshire were not
in a position to force an outright win. This was mainly due
to a blazing 129 from 128 balls from Ross Aucott, 54 from
opener Hamza Ahmed and a resilient 53* from lower order
batsman Ben Brookes.
Game 5 vs Durham (Emirates ICG, Riverside)
Warwickshire won the toss and elected to field
Durham 1st Innings – 169 all out
Warwickshire 1st innings – 234 all out
Durham 2nd innings – 242 all out
Warwickshire 2nd innings – 165 for 7
Warwickshire (19 points) defeated Durham (10 points) on
1st innings
Three reasons to celebrate – a very entertaining and high
quality game of cricket; a victory to round off the season;
and a toss won by the Bears! The sky threatened to burst
for much of the two days, however no time was lost. The
toss felt important with dampness and cloud cover aplenty
on the morning of day one, and so it turned out to be. Bar
one or two players who were not allowed school release,
the team was back to full strength with plenty of second
XI experience in the side. Warwickshire also chose to give
a debut to 14 year old Ben Griffin as wicket keeper who
had shown good signs of development throughout the
summer. Despite the encouraging conditions the Durham
openers battled hard against opening bowlers Mark Adair
and Brinder Phagura, and put on 81 for the first wicket.
Once one end opened up, all bowlers, including the
spinners, found something in the surface and Durham were
dismissed for 169. At the end of day one, Warwickshire
found themselves only 30 odd runs short of the Durham first
innings total, with a solid opening stand from Andy Umeed
and Steven Sandhu, followed by a 50 run partnership
from Matthew Lamb and Oliver Haley. Lamb and Haley
started day two from where they left off and Warwickshire
passed the Durham today only three wickets down, with
the hope of pushing on well beyond the total and setting
up a two innings victory, with plenty of overs left. Alas,
wickets tumbled quickly with the last four all falling on
234 – a disappointing way to end the innings which gave
Durham some momentum and hope that they may now get
something more from the game. And so it was that Durham
came back hard, batting positively throughout scoring 242
runs in only 43 overs. Michael Waugh (4/39) and
Mark Adair (3/87) the leading Warwickshire bowlers. This
left Warwickshire 37 overs to score the 178 runs needed for
an outright victory over two innings. All looked promising at
138 for 3 with Lamb (61) and Haley (20) once again making
inroads into the Durham lead, albeit with overs and light
fading. Four wickets in the space of six runs then dented
Warwickshire’s hopes of a thrilling win, and despite a very
late flourish by Mark Adair (19 from 16 balls), Warwickshire
fell 13 runs short. At a test venue, and two quality sides
thrashing out a memorable match, it was a fitting way to
close the U19 season.
OTHER MATCHES
U19 Warm-up Match vs Northamptonshire (Desborough
Town CC)
Warwickshire won the toss and elected to bat
Warwickshire 1st Innings – 303 all out
Northants 1st Innings – 253 for 9 declared
Warwickshire 2nd Innings – 244 for 3 declared
Northants 2nd Innings – 192 all out
Warwickshire won outright by 102 runs
With the U19 Northern Counties competition around the
corner, this was an excellent opportunity to prepare and get
used to the two day format. On a very quick scoring ground,
the cricket and batting in particularly was entertaining and
positive from the outset. Bowlers generally toiled with a very
short boundary on the pavilion side. Stand out batting for
the Bears came from opener Andy Umeed with a century
in both innings, and 16 year old Liam Banks with 51 in
the second innings. Michael Waugh bowled his off spin
exceptionally well, with some good catches to back him up
around the bat, taking 12 wickets in the match. Both sides
left the game knowing that their bowling would need to
improve in the coming matches, but a satisfying outing and
victory for the Bears.
3 day match vs Worcestershire (Walmley CC)
Worcestershire won the toss and elected to bat
Worcestershire 1st Innings – 309 all out
Warwickshire 1st Innings – 280 for 4 declared
Worcestershire 2nd Innings – 250 for 7 declared
Warwickshire 2nd Innings – 167 all out
Worcestershire won by 112 runs
In a busy week of 2nd XI cricket and the U17 National
2-day Final vs Hampshire, both of which dented availability
significantly, this was going to be a tough game against
a strong Worcestershire XI. This said, there were many
positives to be taken, and both teams made sporting
declarations to ensure a competitive chase on the final
day. At 32 for 4 on the first morning, Worcestershire may
have been starting to regret their decision to bat, however
they recovered well to 194 for 5 and eventually to just over
300. Pick of the Warwickshire bowlers was seamer James
Hunt who was playing as an overage player in otherwise
U19 line-ups. Impressive for Worcestershire was Josh
