On a sunny morning, the team set out at 8.15am on a journey to Rokeby School Playing Fields in Worcester Park for a fun day of cricket sixes. Pitted against a talented bunch of traditional Preparatory Schools in Surrey and the surrounding area, the team excelled throughout the course of the day.
The team was as follows: Atharva R (Captain), Hamza J, Nandan R, Rishabh L, Mohammed S, Rahul S.
In the morning group stages the team faced Parskide, Rokeby and Farleigh. The first game against Parkside, we won the toss and elected to field first with Atharva opening the bowling, with each player bar the wicket-keeper (Rishabh) bowling one over each. It was soon apparent that the choice of arriving with no substitutes was a bad idea as Rishabh took a ball flush on his right knee following a rapid delivery from Nandan. Rishabh valiantly continued to the end of the innings, and indeed the whole day. That bravery confirmed their camaraderie and team spirit which shone throughout the course of the day. We restricted the Parkside team to 40 runs off their 5 overs, with Nandan and Mohammed bowling with hostility, the pick of the bowlers was in fact Hamza who showed great control with his spin bowling, bamboozling their batsman at every turn. Tiffin’s response after a sluggish first over, exploded into life with a fine unbeaten partnership between Atharva and Mo. We won with 8 balls to spare.
With a convincing win under our belts, next up were the hosts, Rokeby. Tiffin lost the toss and were put into bat, with Atharva and Nandan opening the batting this time, with some fine stroke play Tiffin reached 51 off their five overs, with Atharva 17 not out and Nandan 28 not out. This the team felt was a defendable target. Tiffin set about defending the total by bringing on Hamza to open the bowling with spin, which was an inspired choice, conceding just 6 runs off the first over. After some explosive batting by Rokeby they reached their target with 3 balls remaining.
Tiffin’s final group game was against Farleigh where we won the toss and elected to field. Our bowling and ground fielding were exceptional is this game, conceding just 18 runs in the entire innings, by far the lowest total conceded throughout the whole day. Rahul Shah being the stand out performer with the ball. We knocked off the required runs without losing a wicket inside 2 overs. Every player performed to their best ability which would give them the confidence going into the knockout stages.
Tiffin finished 2nd in their group, with Rokeby topping the table. The semi-finals were littered with exceptional teams with both finalists of the Surrey Schools U13 Competition.
Tiffin would play the winners of Group A; the semi-final line-up was as follows:
Tiffin vs Summer Fields
Rokeby vs Felton Fleet (replay of the U13 Surrey Cup Final)
Tiffin won the toss vs Summer Fields and elected to field first. With their clear bowling strategy, Tiffin opened with Hamza, bowling superbly and again conceding a creditable 6 off the first over. After a very aggressive over from Summer Fields, their batsmen were in full flow. Then came the turning point in their innings, with Mohammed bowling, their best batsmen beautifully struck a drive on the off-side with the crispest of timing, however, to the right of Atharva fielding at short extra-cover where he held a sensational catch to stop their batsman dead in his tracks and he trudged off in utter disbelief at being caught by an exceptional bit of fielding. After 3 overs Summer Fields were 33 for 1 and Tiffin admirably kept them to a total of 51 off their full five overs with some great death bowling by Tiffin.
Then came the chase, the message from the outset was “to not go home wondering what might have been and hit the accelerator early to dominate the bowling. In the first over, Atharva narrowly avoided a stumping chance, having just managed to leave some of his back foot over the line. Immediately following that Atharva attacked and put the ball high into the air, their fielder underneath it, their best player, it went straight through his hands and hit him on the cheekbone. Dead ball was called as the safety of their player was of paramount importance. A substitute fielder was called and play resumed. This time Atharva, in partnership with Nandan, attacked the bowling of Summer Fields with superb shot selection as we reached 20-0 off two overs! Tiffin then lost Nandan to a great catch in the deep, unlucky to pick their only man out right on the fence. Two more feet and it was six. Mohammed then came to the crease and used his speed between the wickets to put pressure on their fielders, however, with the run-rate becoming critical, he was run out coming back for a tight second, falling to an exceptional piece of ground fielding from Summer Fields. In walks Hamza at 4. Between Hamza and Atharva, Tiffin needed 11 off the last over to win. Dot ball to start with, pressure building, Tiffin took a couple of the next second delivery. Now needing 9 off 4, Atharva played an exquisite straight lofted drive down the ground for a one bounce 4. 5 off 3 required, then the pitch helped the opposition out with an unplayable ball. 5 off 2 now, huge pressure building, Atharva still on strike, he plays a ball to the off-side boundary and they scamper back for two. Final ball requiring 3 for the outright win, but in reality, 2 because Tiffin had lost fewer wickets. Atharva crunches the final ball straight back down the ground where their fielder pulls off an amazing diving stop, picks up the ball and hurls it back over the top of stumps. Innings complete, Tiffin had run the two required but for some reason had come back for the 3rd run and were run out. We were now tide on runs and wickets. SUPER OVER. Could not have scripted it. England World Cup all over again.
Tiffin won the toss and elected to bat first. The first two balls were dot balls with fatigue settling in, then Atharva hit two consecutive boundaries, then a 2 and then a 1. Tiffin reached 11 off the super over. Then Summer Fields came into bat with Nandan bowling the over. The ground fielding in the final over was exceptional with run saving throws with accuracy from all fielders. Nandan bowled beautifully and Summer Fields required 3 off the last ball to win. They smashed the ball towards the boundary but with a Tiffin fielder lying in wait, Tiffin restricted them to two and the game was won. This was emotionally draining to watch but all staff should be so proud of the efforts of the whole team. An exceptional standard of cricket.
Then came the final versus Felton Fleet, who had beaten Rokeby in the other semi-final. Felton Fleet won the toss and decided to bat first. Their team was stacked with county players who started very well. They amassed 59 off 5 overs. Unfortunately, in Tiffin’s reply they lost early wickets, however, they played with a similar attacking intent and it was no disgrace to fall short by 12 runs.
Beaten finalists, this was a fantastic result given the quality of opposition. Well done Atharva, Nandan, Rahul, Hamza, Mohammed and Rishabh. A special mention to Rishabh who played every game with an injury. The gauntlet has been thrown down for the current year 7 cricket team.
Mr. Hoadley