Brentwoodian 2019

74 second! A great catch by Jake Sedgley. Ben held his nerve and Brentwood U12 won their first game on tour. After our game we visited the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque before watching the U13 play; this was an incredible cultural experience. Our next game for the 13s was against Jebel Ali. We bowled first and Freddie Wren took 4 wickets, a real masterclass of Leg Spin. They got a great total and a tough ask for our batters. The bowling was excellent from them, getting many early wickets. It was an unfortunate day for our batters but we went away learning loads from it. Luckily the next U12’s game was played much closer to our hotel, only a 20 minute drive - the UAE is a bigger place than expected! This game was played against Jebel Ali. Jebel Ali batted first scoring 121 all out. Daniel Green 3 wickets, Abhinay James 1. We then batted, Abhinay James scoring 34, Nathan and Daniel 14. Brentwood won with 5 overs to spare. As it was so hot instead of watching the U13 play the U12 team went back to the hotel for a swim and relax. For our fourth game we played G Force Cricket Academy in the heart of Ajman. There was very upsetting news. Abhinay James, one of our star players was too sick and had to stay at the hotel. So did Liam McNeilly and Zak ‘ THE BEAR’ Balu, maybe some dodgy food from our opponents. Anyway, onto the match report. G Force batted first scoring 124. Alex O’Neal applied the pressure while opening and started the run chase magnificently, scoring 35. After ten overs we were 61-3. However three very tight overs from the opposition put us behind, 69-4 of 13 overs. Nathan came in and a very quick 18 from 14 put us back in the game. We now needed 25 off 18. Sam Davis came on to the pitch needing 18 from 12. A couple of fours took us to only needing 9 off the last over. Ben Walsh and Sam Davis at the crease needed 3 off the last ball. Sam hit a wonderful shot into a gap, running 2. Everyone was delighted with the draw, but Sam wasn’t. He turned and ran for the third a definite run out everyone thought, but the wicket keeper thumbled and Sam was in. We had won. All that cricket made us tired so we decided to have a day out at the city mall then we headed to the desert. The desert safari was the funniest part of the tour as the boys and staff really got to know each other and it was a great way to stop the boys from working too hard. The safari lead us to a festival where there was entertainment from dancers and the lads joined in as well, even Mr. Rees! We had a delicious barbecue and we bought many souvenirs. Then we went back to the hotel to get ready for our final game in the evening, before flying home in the early hours of the next day. Our last game for the 13s was played against a very strong ICC Academy and the incredible ICC HQ under floodlights. We bowled first with a great start from Freddie Abbott, securing two early wickets. The bowling was then set to our spinners, Tom Arnold and Freddie Wren. This was a great spell from them both, reducing the run rate heavily. We then were put into bat where Evan and Will H opened up. The rapid bowling from their openers was excellent. Unfortunately Will was caught behind. We were now in a bad position, losing one of our star batters early on. Finlay came in with great intention where he and Evan brought up a 60-run partnership. Although there was great batting from these, Finlay got caught in the deep where we were trying to get on top of the run rate. Evan then also got caught bringing Daniel Green and Abhinay James to the crease. It came to the final over, where we needed 12 runs to win. This task was too much for us as they put their star bowler on, meaning we lost by 5 runs. It was a great effort from these two and a great place to play at. A huge thanks to Mr Wright, Mr Letts, Mr Rees and Mr Mickleburgh for making this tour possible. It was a great experience for everyone involved and we all learnt a lot from it. Thank you! By Evan Ackerman, Will Howard, Daniel Green & Abhinay James