We’ve come to the end of the initial league games in the Junior section this summer, so I wanted to update you on some of the success we’ve had this year

The Under 9’s despite generally being 2 years younger than the rest of the teams in the league, played fantastically well, and beat Sawbridgeworth at the end of the season. They will no doubt beat a lot more teams in the coming years !

Our Under 10’s came within 3 points of making the county quarter finals, which equates to 3 wickets or 30 runs, but probably comes down to a last ball defeat against Broxbourne who went on to win the league. This is the first season playing cricket for all of the players, and they have developed very well and performed brilliantly - despite being the maddest team we have !

The Under 11’s suffered from cancelled matches and availability but still came in mid table, only losing 3 games in the process. Most again were playing in their first year of competitive cricket, so they have come on a very long way in a very short time.

The Under 12’s are the Eastern league champions! - finishing above the likes of Broxbourne, Sawbridgeworth, St Margaretsbury, and Stortford. They qualified for the county quarter-finals before losing narrowly to an older and very impressive Langleybury side containing a number of players who will represent the county. The team is made up of U12’s, U11’s and the occasional U10 and have shown what great talent we have at Hoddy

The Under 13A team had an excellent year. They finished second in the eastern league behind Stortford, who they ran very close in both games before losing in the last over. They finished above Hertford, St Margaretsbury, and Broxbourne, which showed their tremendous development over the last few years.

The Under 13B team are also Eastern League Champions! - having won their league by a mile, and now play on county finals day this Sunday at Datchworth.

Finally our girls lost their first game narrowly against Buntingford, but showed they are more than capable of competing in a Girls league next year. We had three of the girls training with the county U13 side last year – which is brilliant. There is a lot more to come from them without doubt

In other news, I am very pleased to say that two of the U13’s played their first Sunday game with the senior side this weekend just gone. Kyle Hay and Matthew Young impressed everyone with their bowling, and performed really well in a huge win for the Sunday side containing a number of first team players. It won’t be their last game for the seniors I am sure. Both are very keen to play thirds next year

The cricket doesn’t end there at Hoddy though. The U13’s have a league competition throughout the summer, and we will be arranging a number of friendlies for the other age group teams as well. Sunday outdoor training goes through to the end of August, and we also have the summer school, which we hope to announce this weekend.

cheers

Dave