Never believe what your colleagues from other schools say! We'd heard that we had nothing to worry about from Meoncross. This turned our far from the case as their bowling display was excellent. They captured 7 wickets and only bowled 15 sundries. This restricted Alton to 228 for 7. Josh P held off their attack by keeping to the instructions of eyes down and bat straight. Other batsmen thought they were hitting watermelons, thus giving up the wicket cheaply.

The battle lines were drawn as the team worked to bowl on line with hardly any sundries. As wickets began to tumble there was an air of relief from both coach and team. This was short lived as Meoncross gained the upper hand by some poor bowling and sloppy fielding. By the end of the 12th over they were only trailing Alton's score by 9 runs. A transformation occurred as the spectators grew three fold and cheered every good piece of fielding and bowling. Henry lead by example took 2 wickets in 1 over and bowled a maiden at the end. Those last 8 overs showed how well Alton can play with good concentration and control. Meoncross's final score read 207 runs for 13 wickets. For his steady improvement and concentration both in batting and bowling, Man of the Match went to Josh P.

The team travelled to St Margaret's to play a limited over friendly match. All the boys had no previous experience of playing a competitive game. The team consisted of three Year 4 boys and five Year 3 boys. Ben lost the toss. St Maragert's came into bat and batted with confidence. It was obvious from the start that St Margaret's had a wealth of experience. After their alotted 16 overs, the opposition amassed 309 for the lost of 1 wicket gained by John. Alton showed great spirit in their fielding display. However, when Alton batted, St Margaret's bowled very well and limited Alton to 214 runs for 8 wickets. On paper Alton were beaten by a superior team. Yet the boys scored a victory of their own as they played as a team. They encouraged and were positive throughout the whole match and afterwards at the teams' tea time. I was so proud of their manners and team display. They were lead by Ben in such a gentlemanly fashion. Well done!

The Under 11 team played Ditcham Park on Monday in glorious sunshine on the Ditcham hill, with great views of the Isle Wight and beyond. With this setting, Alton played very good cricket. The team only conceded three wickets for 257 runs. Strong batting from Henry and Tom our openers. Sandy playing his first game of cricket defended stoutly. Knowing that our strength was our bowling department the team quickly gathered a clutch of wickets including several run-outs, which again Sandy assisted strongly. However, the bowlers conceded too many sundries if they are to each the final this year.

Finally.. the cricket final of the Wessex League was played at the East Meon village cricket ground last Friday despite threatening rains. Both teams were glad to have the final played. Oakwood won the toss and put Alton into bat. The opening pair of Lewis and Matthew were confident to see through the opening overs. However the Oakwood bowlers had different ideas wickets began to tumble, first Matthew was caught magnificently, followed by Lewis being bowled after taking a wild swing. Alton found themselves after the first four overs 186 for 4. Jacob and William tried to drag the run rate to respectability with some responsible shots, but the Oakwood bowling attack was aggressive. Their fielding was superb and stopped many a fine shot from Alton's batsmen. There was excellent running between wickets by Josh, and Alex created problems for Oakwood. Yet Oakwood's bowlers seemed to have an answer to Alton's resolve. By the end of the 20 overs Alton had reached the meager total of 189 for 9 wickets.

Alton faced an uphill battle to stay in the game. Tom showed the way by taking a wicket in the opening over. Jacob bowled a very good line and length to restrict the batsmen from cutting loose. A freakish run out caused Oakwood to be rattled with Lewis hitting the stumps with the Oakwood batsman standing out of the cease watching the return. Alton continued to apply pressure to the opposition by accurate bowling. Oakwood did manage to play every ball on the wicket without getting bowled. Lewis and William did their best to get wickets, however Alton's fielding was was to it usual standard and catches were dropped and overthrows were made. Oakwood's total slowly increased up to 261 for 3 at the end of their 20 overs.

It was vital for Alton to win this match against Prince's Mead to reach their second successive final in the League. Prince's Mead lost the toss and Alton elected to bat. Joel, being the most consistent player this year opened with Matthew, but played and missed to be bowled out. Alton found themselves under the kosh with few runs on the board. The second pairing of Jacob and William brought the score to a reasonable 224. This was followed by Tom and Lewis adding 15 more runs with their allotted 3 overs. Alex and newly promoted Holly did their best by not giving up their wicket and securing 9 more runs to a happier total of 248 for 1 wicket. The last pair of Josh and Edward tore into the Prince's Mead attack scoring a blistering 28 runs before Josh, attempting another big hit, was bowled. After the assigned 15 overs Alton had amassed an excellent score of 269 for 2.

The Alton U11 cricket team journeyed to Midhurst to play St Margaret's. Once again the team found themselves sent into bat and after four overs had chalked up 219 runs on the board. Jacob and William began to take control until Jacob gave away his wicket cheaply. The next pair of Edward and Josh from Yr4 (his first game with the U11s) added 19 runs to make the score 250 with six overs to go out of the total of 15. Sadly Alton did not capitalize on St Margaret's bowling and lost three more wickets by bad batting. After the allotted 15 overs Alton scored a modest four wickets for 251.

In keeping with recent international cricket tradition, the Under 11 cricket played their first match of the season in the rain. They were up against the old foe of Mayville. Alton was sent into bat after losing the toss and Edward and Lewis opening the innings with slight cases of nerves. Their overs completed, they were able to loose one wicket and brought the score to 215 (each team begins with 200 runs). The more experienced pair of Jacob and skipper William took charge of some poor bowling and added 29 runs to the score with the loss of a wicket (and thus a 5 run penalty to their score). Joel and Alex showed good concentration by not giving their wicket away and bringing the total to 258 after their 4 allotted overs. Mayville began to make field adjustments by packing the leg side as the Alton batsmen were playing to that side. However with the next pairing of Matthew and Josh found the gaps in the offside and played shots that brought singles. Matthew played a delightful square cut that left the fielders bewildered. The boys brought the score to an excellent 288. Henry and Tom faced tighter bowling and lost a couple of wickets, finishing up with innings closed at 280 for the loss of 4 wickets.