Well done Black Caps for a great start to the hard ball season against a Churt side who boasted 3 Surrey representative players who were definitely the quickest bowlers our kids have faced!

The kids' fielding was excellent with backing up all around and some wonderful throwing down of the stumps twice by Jasper and another run out from Rory's sharp throw; Seb was super keen to be involved throughout too. Bowling was consistent overall with Thomas' off spin being exceptionally economical and the encouragement was there throughout for their team mates. Freddie and Rory each hit the stumps while Woody and Jack kept wicket well.

Batting was tough given the quality of the bowling and the children did well to play some solid shots with good running. There were a few learnings, especially with some cross batting leading to being bowled a number of times and also the awareness of where the crease is for stumpings (even on a wide). Freddie hit a 4 clipping the ball off the back of his bat which I'd never seen before (the Stoop Scoop?), Joseph scored some tidy runs and George batted solidly against the trident of quicks.

Player of the match for their overall performance fielding, bowling and batting was Henry - well done.

Thank you Jon for scoring and Geoff for readying the batters.