SPANISH JUNIORS SHOW EARLY SEASON PROMISE
The Spanish Juniors showed early season promise in their opening games running a strong Leys School close and earning a draw against an equally competent Emanuel School.
The games, in the Twenty20 format, started on the morning of the 10th of April at a sunny La Manga. The Cambridgeshire school won the toss and put the home side in to bat. The Spanish Junior coach, Neil Brook used these two matches to experiment and tinkered with the usual batting line up by promoting middle order batsmen Tom Vine and Jake Sunderland to openers.
A steady start by Spain was interrupted in the 2cd over when Vine played around a ball from Janssen and lost his leg stump with the score on 11. Regular opening bat Joel Brook joined Sunderland at the crease and both looked comfortable in pushing the total forward. A lazy shot by Brook failed to clear the in field with the score on 34 and he was out caught, having contributed 8 to his teams total.
La Manga based all-rounder Alfie Harris was the next to the crease and again he supported Sunderland well to edge the Spain total over the half century mark, before he too played a rash shot, coming down the wicket to the spinner Elmsley, only to fail to make contact with the ball, and consequently, got stumped by the wicket-keeper Turner.
Another La Manga batsman Ravi Panchal, fresh from a half century against Alfas a few weeks earlier joined Sunderland and put on the best partnership of the innings, 59 in total, before Sunderland was ajudged leg before for 41 in the 19th over. Four more runs were added in the last over for the loss of Panchal and Roper to leave the Spanish juniors with a below par, but nontheless competitive score of 114 for 6.
A quick turn around and 10 minutes later the openers for Leys were at the crease. Sunderland opened the bowling and bowled 3 wides in his first over as he tried to get to grips with the swinging pink ball that was being used, but to his credit, no runs came from the bat. Vine also bowled a couple of wides in his first over, but both bowlers then found their shape and length second time round.
Vine struck with his 4th ball of his second over when he had Miller caught by Spanish debutant Antonio Gomez Brown with the score on 24. Latham joined Gale and the Leys boys put on a match winning partnership, taking the score to 87 before Latham was caught by Sunderland off the bowling of Harris for a well crafted 19. Two more quick wickets for Harris stuttered the visitors but Gale continued to be a thorn in the Spanish side. On 49 he got out caught of the bowling of Vine but with only 12 runs needed and 2.4 overs left the Spanish total did not seem enough. So it proved, as Albert and Lawson saw Leys home with just 4 balls to spare.
A great effort by the Spanish youngsters in trying to defend a sub-par total. Substantial contributions from Sunderland, Harris and Vine were the highlights for the hosts and notable mentions for Panchal, newcomer Antonio Gomez Brown and the bubbly Jamie Roper who did well wicket keeping for the national side for the first time.
SPANISH JUNIOR SELECT V LEYS SCHOOL (CAMBRIDGESHIRE)
La Manga, Twenty20, April 10th, 11.00 am
Leys won the toss and elected to field
SPAIN BATTING
T Vine Bowled Jannsen 8
J Sunderland Lbw T Andrews 41
J Brook Ct Gale B Jannsen 8
A Harris Stumped Turner B Elmsley 10
R Panchal Ct & Bowled O´Reilly 32
A Gomz-Brown Not Out 0
J Roper Ct ? Bowled O´Reilly 0
A Algar Not Out 0
A Panchal Dnb
C Baker Dnb
K Wood Dnb
Sub total 99 Extras 15 Total 114 for 6
LEYS BOWLING
T Andrews 4-0-18-1
B Janssen 4-0-23-2
A Gale 3-0-22-0
T Elmsley 4-0-22-1
O Lawson 4-0-23-0
A O´Reilly 1-0-4-2
LEYS BATTING
F Miller Ct Gomez Brown B Vine 4
A Gale Ct Sunderland B Vine 49
J Latham Ct ? B Harris 19
D O´Reilly Ct R Panchal B Harris 0
J Warrington Ct Sunderland B Harris 1
J Albert Not Out 6
O Lawson Not Out 4
T Andrews Dnb
B Jannsen Dnb
T Elmsley Dnb
D Turner Dnb
Sub-total 83 Extras 33 Total 116 for 5
Leys School Win By 5 Wickets
SPANISH JUNIOR SELECT V EMANUEL SCHOOL
A quick lunch and the Spanish team were out in the hot sun again, this time against Emanuel School, who had beaten Leys the previous day. Spain won the toss and again batted first. Vine and Sunderland again opened for the home side, but Vine was soon back in the pavillion, having been caught behind by the wicket keeper off the bowling of Seracold without troubling the scorers.
Captain Brook again had the job of trying to rescue Spain´s poor start and immediately showed his intentions by cracking his second ball for 4. He continued in this vein for the next 10 or so overs, being ably supported by Sunderland, who played a sensible innings in giving Brook the strike whenever possible. Brook took only 34 balls to reach his 50 and showed no sign of tiredness as he continued to punish the Emanuel bowlers. When Sunderland fell for 35 Alfie Harris entered the frame and continued were Sunderland had left off. Brook finally fell on 63 having hit 2 sixes and 6 fours.
Harris and Panchal added 12 before the end of the innings to leave Emanuel chasing 135 for victory. Emanuel started positively and looked to have the game comfortably in their pocketsas the openers Lampieta and Mufid put on 94 before Mufid was bowled by Adam Algar in the 13th over. Needing only 41 off 7 overs with 9 wickets in hand the writing looked on the wall for Spain.
However, the pressure began to effect the Emanuel batsmen and with Spain´s main bowlers Vine and Sunderland bowling the last 4 overs to their main potential the English school had to scrap for every single run. Opener Lampierta continously found himself stranded at the no strikers end as the hosts showed great discipline in the field, in defending such a small target.
The last over came and Emanuel required 7 for victory. A single and 2 dot balls swayed the game slightly in Spains favour. Vine the bowled a short pich delivery that Serocold dispatched to the boundary. The La Manga bowler regained is composure and the 5th ball squited for a leg bye. That left the opener Lampierta who was on a chanceless 64 not out, to try and score 2 runs off the last delivery. Vine managed to put the ball right in the blockhole and the visitors scurried throuh for 1 run to tie the game. A great game of cricket and a fantastic comebak by the Spanish boys to eke out a draw against a strong cricketing school.
Both games served as useful indications for the Director of Junior Cricket Neil Brook. There were lots of positives from the matches, the established players contributed strongly to the team throughout the two games, and relative newcomers Gomez-Brown, Roper, Algar and Panchal did enough to show they had the potential to become regular members of the squad when all th players from throughout Spain are available.
SPANISH JUNOR SELECT V EMANUEL SCHOOL
La Manga April 10th 15.00 hours
Spain won the toss and elected to bat
SPAIN BATTING
T Vine Ct wkt keeper B Seracold 0
J Sunderland Ct ? B M Patel 35
J Brook Ct wkt keeper B V Patel 63
A Harris Not Out 15
R Panchel Not Out 5
A Gomez-Bown Dnb
J Roper Dnb
A Algar Dnb
A Panchal Dnb
K Wood Dnb
C Baker Dnb
Sub total 118 Extras 16 Total 134 for 3
EMANUEL BOWLING
V Patel 4-2-17-1
W Seracold 4-0-15-1
B Ahmed 4-0-24-0
M Patel 4-0-36-1
T Jeliffe 1-0-8-0
R Rusell 2-0-23-0
M Sultan 1-0-4-0
EMANUEL BATTING
J Lampierta Not Out 65
S Mufid Bowled A Algar 25
H Purnell Bowled Sunderland 0
S Stanier Bowled Sunderland 1
W Sericold Not Out 4
J Berends Dnb
R Russell Dnb
V Patel Dnb
T Jeliffe Dnb
M Patel Dnb
B Ahmed Dnb
Sub total 104 Extras 30 Total 134 for 3
SPAIN BOWLING
J Sunderland 4-0-15-2
T Vine 4-0-21-0
R Panchal 2-0-18-0
J Roper 4-0-36-0
A Algar 4-0-27-1
A Harris 2-0-15-0
Game Tied
