The school holidays have arrived and with that some wet weather after a fantastic June and July. We have had almost perfect cricket weather with all but one game in the Under 13 league played. All practices have been well attended except the last two which gave way to the wet weather, but in all a very pleasing season from an attendance perspective.

The U13 team finished second in the league with only two losses, both heavily to Kempsford. Wins against Cirencester B, Fairford, Lechlade, and Cricklade gave the boys masses of confidence andwe have seen some fantastic individual performances too. James Skeldon, Lorcan Purser, Dan Allison and Ben Kavanagh have all passed 50 runs for the first time in their careers,well done to them! These boys will not be available for the U13 next year and will be missed but there has been some encouraging progress made by the younger players in the squad. With continued effort and hard work we hope to bridge the gap that will be left by the older boys and I am hoping the experiences of playing in these games, has really benefited the younger players.

There is still room for improvement and the main area that’s needs to be focussed on is consistency, this will only come from regular practice, practising with a purpose and concentration.Remember I said a few months ago that the more you practice the easier it becomes, the body gets used to doing particular movements in certain situations, reacting to each circumstance with a purpose.

This comes from experience and practice and I’m sure next year we will see these areas improved.

I just want to say a thank you at this point for all the boys’ efforts in practice through all the age groups and for committing to the team, it has been a pleasure being involved and we have all have made big strides forward and set ourselves a platform for the future, well done!