Sunday 11th July 2010.

U15s: Sway 98-9, New Milton B 83-3. Sway won by 12 runs

U11 Luke Lewis, making his debut at U15 level produced a star performance to rescue Sway and win the final game of the season against a most determined New Milton side.

Sway batted first but got off to a disastrous start when skipper David Steadman was caught behind for a golden duck then the very next ball Andrew Straw was also caught for a golden. Pinch hitter Max Baybut then found himself partnering opener Niall Gallagher about 10 overs earlier than planned! Baybut and Gallagher steadied the ship and Gallagher (25) looked to be on good form before, with the score on 43 he was rather unfortunate to be bowled by a ball well down leg deflecting off his pads onto the stumps. Successive Sway batsmen then ignored plaintive calls to defend the good ball and got themselves out playing reckless shots to straight balls and were 50-5 when Luke Lewis entered the fray at number 7. Lewis then provided a lesson in patience and control working the ball into the gaps on the lightning outfield as well as punishing the bad balls. Lewis found a partner late on in Darren Clark who played well for his 14. After the 18 overs Lewis was still there unbeaten on 25 alongside Matt Laverton (3) having brought the total up to a potentially defendable 98-8.

If catches win matches, Sway looked to be heading for  certain defeat with several relatively simple chances put down in the opening overs. In fact it was not until the 10th over when Nathan David bowled the New Milton opener L Walls for a fine 21. Whilst New Milton were signficantly behind on the run-rate, they had plenty of wickets in hand and with the score on 58 the other opening P Everleigh was dismissed in bizarre fashion. A no-ball was edged to the keeper who took the catch and then proceeded to take off the bails catching the batsman out of his ground. The batsman was given out but with hindsight the umpires will no doubt admit to a bit of a faux pas as you cannot be out stumped on a no ball and can only be run out if attempting a single, which was highly unlikely.  Niall Gallagher produced a tidy couple of overs for just 5 runs and claimed the wicket of the number three, Laurie Symons taking the catch behind the stumps. Undaunted New Milton pressed on and going into the final few overs victory still seemed a possibility, especially when Steadman was hit for consecutive boundaries of the first two balls of the penultimate over. Steadman however corrected his length and by the time Andy Straw came to bowl the final over, New Milton needed a rather unlikely 18 to win. Straw was never likely to get that kind of punishment and bowled an excellent final over for just 5 runs as Sway ran out winners by 12 runs. Straw, unlucky as ever, was the pick of the Sway bowlers with 4-0-14-0. A special mention to Callum Gillard for an outstanding display in the field - probably the best of the season by a Sway player.

Not a good performance at all to finish off what has been a pretty good season, and it really should bit be the case that we were relying on an 11 year old to show us how to bat sensibly and allow us to post a half decent total. Nevertheless, cricket is long haul and with decades of play ahead of them hopefully all the lads will move onwards and upwards and keep on enjoying their cricket.