Wythenshawe Wizards U9s were up with the lark, on a bright and sunny Saturday morning here at Longley Lane, Northenden as we hosted Ashton on Mersey CC U9s in the SMJCL U9s Cup, with lots of parents and families down supporting the children, which is always great to see :) AoM bowled first and proved quite handy with the ball, taking 11 wickets (in pairs cricket ~ each wicket counts as 3 runs lost) The Wizards kept going and as their confidence improved (remember most of our players were last seasons All Stars!!) they soon settled into the match. We saw some good partnerships in the making & with improved talking and running in the latter overs, our score nudged up to 233 (*innings starts at 200 runs) off the allocated 16 overs. AoM's batting pairs set out from the off to try and get as many runs in front as was possible, to reduce the threat of losing those important runs from any wickets being lost, accumulating a final total of *292 and ultimately winning the match, with our Wizards taking 3 wickets which included a fantastic caught & bowled by Sonny. Pairs cricket really is a great form of learning from the centre of the field of play and aspires to encompass match play coaching, all whilst playing fun and exciting cricket....our Wizards may have lost the cup match today but ultimately the winner is definitely the future of Wythenshawe Junior cricket!! Congratulations to AoM U9's and good luck in the next round of the cup :)