29th July - U13s home v. Penkridge
Skipper Michael Hingley lost the toss and Penn were invited to bowl. Zak Evans starred with 3 for 14 as Penkridge were restricted to a total of 88. The Penn response was ruthless as Zak O'Neill and Michael Hingley both reached their retirement scores of 30. A brief dashing innings from Alex Haynes finished things off as Penn reached the target losing only one wicket in the process.

20th June - U12s v. Beacon
At last after all the rain we were back on the field. Tight bowling against a strong Beacon side restricted them to  73 off 17 overs but the last three overs saw a further 29 runs added Arron Patel 4 overs 1 for 9 and Matt Finney 4 over 2 for 23 were amongst the wickets  .A brilliant run out of Beacons danger man and 1 for 16 off 4 saw Nathan Howell at his all round best.
At 102 for 5 we knew this was our highest total of the season to chase. Luke Oakley and Thomas Kimberlin saw us through some extremely tight bowling from Beacons Olly Green and Dan Tomlinson but failure to rotate the strike put us well behind the rate. Nathan Howell hit a powerful 21 and Thomas a steady 27 Josh Heath strode to the wicket and hit a quick fire 16 but with 3 wanted off the last two balls we fell 2 short on 100 for 7.
How many times this season have we said "If only".
A great team performance in the field and with the bat and ball and as the matches come and go the hours of practice are paying off with all the basics in place ."If only"........

6th June - U12s away v. Wombourne
On a balmy evening in Wombourne a large crowd watched another excellent game. Wombourne batted  first and despite an excellent innings from J Flatt of 31 wickets fell regularly and were shared between the bowlers with Aaron Patel taking 3 for 14 from 4 overs. A superb run out by Elliot Waltho and tidy fielding in the deep by Michael Brown set the tone in the field . Matt Finney with 3 overs 1 for 7 saw his dad racing to the cash point at Lloyds TSB to pay over yet another fiver.A steady start against two useful opening bowlers saw us fall behind the rate but the wickets remained intact and Nathan Howell with his usual belligerent hitting retiring on 30 and an unusually cautious innings from Tom Kimberlin of 19 not out saw us home by 9 wickets
The game saw the possible use for the first time of a third umpire in under 12s cricket.
Regular umpire Dennis Oakley was caught in traffic and had to be replaced during the first innings by Mark Howell .Dennis took over the duties during the second innings with Mark Howell taking a well earned rest and a few beers at square leg on the Wombourne balcony allegedly checking on any  disputed stumpings and run outs.

5th June - U13s away v. Rugeley
A long and tortuous drive in the rush hour to Rugeley and it was straight out of the cars and on to the field of play! Captain Oliver Zaki lost the toss and Penn were invited to bat. Some uppish batting strategies saw many Penn batters lose their wickets to fairly simple catches. Eventually they limped to 91 all out after 19.3 of the allotted 20 overs. Ed Potts top scored with 21 and had decent support from Oli Zaki (16) and Zak Evans (12).
On a slow low wicket, the bowling had to be just right to defend a low total compared to recent performances. Thankfully, Penn stuck to the task and dismissed Rugeley for 77. George Nock bowled extremely well but Rob Price and Zak Evans took the honours, both with identical figures of 2 wickets for 4 runs.

2nd June - U12s v. Oldswinford
June arrives ,the sun shines and Penn under 12s win their first game having been beaten by the narrowest of margins in their first two encounters. Nathan Howell hit a quick fire 31 before retiring Thomas Kimberlin  26 and Luke Oakley treating the bowling with  more respect  helped the side to a score of 90. The Oldswinford wickets were shared amongst all the bowlers with Matthew Finney 2 overs, 2 for 3  and Bhavesh Patel on debut 3 overs, 2 for 5 the pick. Josh Heath and James Griffiths also picked up wickets on debut Oldswinford finished on 68 for 9.
Penn's under 12 professional Matt Finney on £5.00 per wicket from his dad has now taken his total to 7 in 3 games. Poor Andrew Finney (in more ways than one)!!!!!!

30th May - U13s home v. Wolverhampton
A mid-week cup match at Gamesfield Green and Penn bowled first. It was not one of Penn's better bowling performances and Wolverhampton took full advantage by posting a daunting 139 off their 20 overs.
The Penn response never really got going as wickets tumbled at regular intervals. Only Oliver Zaki (29) and George Nock (10) reached double figures as the side was dismissed for 59.

25th May U13s away v. Fordhouses
Second game in two days for the U13s and they responded with the best team performance so far. Michael Hingley and Zach O'Neill both passed their compulsory retirement score of 30 and Alex Haynes contributed a valuable 23. Eventually Penn reached 128 for 2 off their twenty overs. Penn's bowling and fielding were superb against a very capable Fordhouses batting line up. Accuracy in the bowling and diligence in the field meant that Fordhouses were never able to gain momentum and ended up with only 82.

24th May - U13s home v. Brewood
Penn lost the toss and were invited to field. Dilpreet Molhatra took 2 for 8, Ed Potts 1 for 6, and Rob Price 1 for 6 as Brewood were kept down to 92. The Penn response was emphatic as Zach O'Neill hit an impressive 33 and Michael Hingley backed him up with 27. Penn reached the target with little effort.

6th May U12s v. Himley
Penn 97 for 5. Himley 98 for 5
Once again solid batting at the top of the innings with Thomas Kimberlin 29 and Aaron Patel 21 saw a steady start .Unfortunately we were unable to accelerate and lost 4 of the 5 wickets in the last 4 overs for only 11 runs.
Tight bowling at the start of Himley innings saw Danny Bargota clean bowl the three of the top four in his first two over spell. The fielding that let us down at Coombs Wood haunted us again and with 33 extras and ones turned into fours the pressure was on. Tom Kimberlin 4/0/0/7, George Dent  4/0/2/12and Danny Bargota 4/0/3/11ensured another extremely tight finish with Himley winning on the last but one ball.
Paramedics from New Cross Hospital are in future required to be on hand to help with the tension  in the crowd and after the disappointment of the World Cup matches the manager is currently negotiating a contract with Sky sports to televise all the games.

6th May U13s away v. Old Wulfs
Penn 150 for 3. Old Wulfs 112 for 5

George Nock 32 (Retired), Alex Haynes 30 (Retired), Edward Potts 29, Oliver Zaki 25 not out. Wickets from George Nock 3 for 19, Dilpreet Malhotra 1 for 15 and Zak Evans 1 for 14.
Penn got off to a good start, with George Nock and Alex Haynes dispatching the Old Wulfs opening attack to all parts of the ground, with some controlled and aggressive batting. Once they retired Zak Evans and Dilpreet Malhotra pushed the score on further, with Dilpreet looking for the boundaries in the sky, with some of the shots he played. Then came Oliver Zaki and Edward Potts, who carried off from where George Nock and Alex Haynes left off. Edward was cutting and pulling as though he was auditioning for Zorro, to great effect and being left handed, with Oliver right handed, saw the Old Wulfs fielders go in for synchronised field changing when ALL the off side fielders changed places with ALL the leg side fielders each time Oliver and Edward took a run.
Although lacking a wicket keeper, Captain Oliver Zaki took over the role and in the second over of the game took a diving catch off George Nocks bowling. The bowling was clean with few extras and everybody was given an opportunity to bowl. There were some good performances by all, where only two of the Old Wulfs batsmen made double figure. Fielding was a bit lack lustre, and if we can address this issue then Penn Under 13 will be in contention at the top of the tree come the end of the season.

30th April - U12s v. Coombs Wood