On a splendid May evening at Hobbs Lane, Barrow’s under 15s entertained the mighty Weston Super Mare in the North Somerset Youth League, as Pete Holdaway reports:
Weston won the toss and set about Barrow’s attack scoring at 9 an over despite Isaac Todman beating the bat regularly and having 2 lbw appeals turned down on height. All went well for Weston with Rai and Smith retiring before Leo Brace struck with 2 wickets both bowled and just failed to take a hat-trick by a couple of inches. Melissa Owen dismissed Price for 4 and at 129-3 in the 17th over Barrow were containing Weston to a manageable total. When Ben Thorne took a sharp catch at cover off debutant Seb Allen at 138-4, the away team’s hopes of possibly 180 plus were not to be. The innings closed at 150-4. Although run ragged in the field, Barrow’s youngsters stuck to the task and Luke Thorne, in particular, rose to the occasion as the ball often appeared to follow him around!
Barrow’s reply started with a modest 3 off the first over and nods all round in the Weston field signalled their satisfaction. What followed was an explosion of hard-hitting at one end and a cultured display of textbook shots from the other! Cameron Bullock was irresistible with an array of boundaries to all parts of the ground which led to Weston’s skipper hastily rearranging the field to try to plug the gaps. It was futile as Barrow went to 42-0 off 7 overs and seriously looked well in the chase. At the other end, Oscar Todman (12 years old) played like a seasoned professional, cutting and square driving for ones and twos before playing an exquisite glance off the hip to fine leg for four. At 14 overs they had advanced to 81 and the cheers from the boundary echoed around the ground as the sun started to disappear behind the scoreboard. At 91, Weston’s Austin produced a Yorker that Oscar couldn’t avoid and he was trapped lbw on the back foot for 18. With 4 overs remaining Ben Thorne joined the exuberant Cameron and ran with him to ensure he reached his maiden half century finishing on 53 no and Ben on 7 no. Barrow concluded on 109-1 against the best side in the league. The performance drew praise from Weston’s coach who might have been expecting a quieter evening at Hobbs Lane Well played Under 15s !!!