Sidbury Under-10s played their first game of hardball cricket when they played Ottery St Mary at King’s School.

Ottery won the toss and, with the artificial strip looking like it might have something in it for the bowlers early on, elected to bowl.

Tom Grove and Charley Turley opened confidently with a rash of boundaries, before Tom Grove lost his wicket to a ball which nipped back as he shaped to drive it through mid-wicket.

With Herbie Isherwood and Harry Wood wielding the bat next, Harry Wood batted with typical assurance while Herbie Isherwood struck the ball with gusto, finding the boundary several times. Next up was Josh John-Ringe and Henry Tanner, Josh putting the bad balls away well and Henry building in confidence.

George Tanner then accompanied Skate Leisk and once he had his eye in George hit some lust blows, narrowly missing out on a six, while Skate paddled a couple down the leg for some well earned runs.

Some rather optimistic running by all the pairs and some sharp fielding from Ottery saw the umpires finger raised a few too many times, which was eventually to tip the result in favour of Ottery. The team bowled exceptionally well and aside from a few lapses in concentration showed some sharp fielding. Josh John-Ringe asserted himself behind the stumps and held his nerve despite being struck on the helmet twice. All the bowlers’ confidence grew palpably with each delivery, as indeed did their stature on the pitch. They walked tall from the field, smiles on their faces, significantly more versed in the ways of this peculiarly brilliant game, and confident that the next game will be theirs.