Fall League started in September 2025 and I saw it as an opportunity to give our U13 cricketers some opportunities that they have not yet had in the year. This along with some request from parents was all taken in to consideration as we headed into the league.
Even though we applied some rotation… we managed to win most of our league games and therefor ended up in the quarter finals.
During the course of the year we played against most of the top teams within our league, there was only two teams (both of which I perceived as stronger) that we had not yet played against and as luck would have it, we would face one of these teams in the quarter final.
Needless to say I was a bit nervous. However as always I thought what a great opportunity to see where our players were at.
Now at the same time… I was in the thick of planning our winter preparation. I will be honest enough here that initially I was short on ideas… we had implemented all our plans through summer and had a measure of success with that. Winter planning was going slow.
We wanted to bat, but lost the toss and had to bowl first. We managed to bowl pretty well up front. Got an early wicket and managed to restrict their run scoring. Apart from their one opener none of their team really got going. We ended up bowling them out for 105.
In the chase we were going really well up front as our openers put a good stand together, however we stumbled a bit in the middle and ended up winning, yet lost 5 wickets in the chase with boys looking to finish the game off quickly rather than playing the game that is in front of them. They played unnecessary risky shots.
So onto the semi-finals we go… to play the other team that we have not yet played.
From the onset I could feel a different feeling within the team. Perhaps it was the nerves, perhaps the ‘names’ in the opposition, perhaps our own perception of our own skills.
The game start was delayed due to a bad mat and needing to have it replaced The outfield was quick by New Jersey standards.
We bowled well up until the 15th over, with the opposition only having 75 runs. At this point in time we had dropped the one opening batter when he was on about 30 odd.
After drinks everything changed. They came out attacking and we had few answers. The opener we dropped made 150 plus and another batter who we seemed to feed in their area got 100 off 60 odd balls. We had to chase 300 plus.
With the bat we never got going. Ended up being 130-ish all out.
As a coach these last two games gave me so much more information about where to go next in our winter plan.
Lessons
Giving opportunities does not mean sacrificing winning. Although it is a tough battle to win when providing opportunities, giving lower order batters a run up top between some out and out batters can still lead to success.
When we play against others it is an opportunity to see where we are at. If we want to find it… winning and loosing can both teach us about the next steps we must take in order to move forward.
Cricketers under pressure show you what they know. If they struggle for ideas, then that means they are not yet capable of having that level of pressure on them. They either don’t have the skills yet or have not been prepared for that type of situation. Only going through these moments and reflecting on them afterwards can we truly learn and grow.
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