New Forest U16 boys remain unbeaten in Ageas Bowl 2018/19 League

 

New Forest maintained their unbeaten record in the Ageas Bowl U16 Indoor League season and moved to the top of the table with victories against sides from Parley CC and South Wilts.

 

New Forest 173-4 (18 points) beat Parley CC 99-2 (6 points) by 74 runs

Having won the toss Parley put New Forest into bat and they made immediate inroads when opener Toby Mills was caught driving through the covers in the first over. Joshua Royan (46) and Daniel Bailey (30) responded by going smoothly through the gears in batting their way to retirements and setting an innings defining platform from which the New Forest could continue to attack. Joshua Bailey (32 no) and Sam Presland (29 no) kept up the pace, joined latterly by Jack Harris (15). Excellent awareness and unselfish running saw the New Forest to their highest total of the season and maximum batting points.

Faced with a mountain to climb Parley struggled to get the sort of start they needed as Royan (3-0-14-1) trapped Hopkins lbw on the crease in his first over and Joshua Bailey (2-0-16-0) turned the ball regularly past the outside edge. Having reached 44-1 at the half way mark the rate required exceeded 20 an over and Parley played for consolidation with Freak and Pryce both retiring. Accurate bowling from Daniel Bailey (2-0-10-0), Sam Presland (2-0-24-0) and Toby Mills (3-0-33-0) ensured that there were to be no late shocks as Parley finished short on 99-2.

 

New Forest 123-5 (20 points) beat South Wilts 85-6 (7 points) by 38 runs

New Forest again batted first in the final fixture of the night and found themselves in all sorts of trouble at 12-3 against the excellent opening attack of Higton and Montgomery, backed up with impressive glove work from Glover, the South Wilts wicketkeeper. Joshua Royan (19) helped stem the bleeding but Daniel Bailey (65 no) was left as the last man standing at 44-5 with over half of the overs remaining. Reprising his captain’s knock from a few weeks previously Bailey curbed his natural attacking instincts and guided the ball into the gaps moving impressively to a half century. A couple of trade mark straight sixes at the death ensured that the New Forest would have a reasonable total of 123-5 to defend.

Joshua Royan (2-0-11-1) again got the Forest boys off to a flyer trapping the dangerous Wade lbw first ball. Wickets fell regularly as Joshua Bailey (3-0-29-2) dismissed the South Wilts middle order with 2 wickets in the fourth over of the run chase. At 29-3 South Wilts still had plenty of overs left but despite excellent knocks from Ben Higton (34) and S Montgomery (22) steady bowling from Daniel Bailey (2-0-14-1) and Toby Mills (2-0-19-0) proved difficult to get away. A good throw from Sam Presland (1.2-0-11-1) enabled Bailey to run out Higton and when Jack Harris took the second of two fine catches from behind the stumps from Presland's off-spin South Willis were all out in the 10th over finishing at 85-6.