Parley Dorset XI

The Dorset Xl started our season late due to our wonderful British weather. 

It was great to finally get out and play some cricket even if a number of weeks the weather was iffy at best. 

The 4th team is designed to blood the youth players and a stepping stone to going up through the teams, this year was no different. 

With a number of our u13s making their senior league debuts they all played exceptionally and couple that with the "more experienced " players , we had a fantastic combination.

Our u13s Keir Humphrey, Harry Coole, Jake Courtiour and Harry Franks played in most of the games and were all exceptional from the off. We also had an u12 player Elliot Dresser making his senior debut as well and took a debut wicket.

We ended up playing 12 out of 18 games. 5 were lost to the weather and 1 was when Swanage sadly conceeded the game against us.

Whilst we didn't win as many as we would have liked , we competed in the games and all against older and much more experienced players than ours and gave our young players exposure in this type of environment and that can only be a positive step no matter the results.

We ended up winning 3 games, we defeated Christchurch 3s twice and also beat Dorchester 3s in their own back yard, the highlight was beating Christchurch at carvers by 4 runs and beating Dorchester by 1 wicket , we clearly like to take the game to the wire.

We also had some Adult debuts with Rob Lewis, Kieran Humphrey , Harry Grant, Liam Carpenter, Nagendra Verma and James Render who were all superb and played their roles wonderfully.

With the consistent mix of youth and experience it will only aid the younger players to become more rounded and ultimately better players in the future.

With the amount of youth players we had playing this year ,the rest of the club look well stocked for many many years to come, we have so much to cheer and with the u12s from this year ready to play senior cricket in 2025, the future is very bright indeed.

I love captaining the 4th team as my role is to give the younger players experience of playing senior cricket and when ready push them up to the higher teams and beyond.

Our availability this year has been very very good all bar 1 or 2 weeks where we were scrabbling around but we always fielded 44 players every week and not many multi team clubs can say that.

Winter well everyone and I cannot wait for summer 2025 to come around and do this all again.

Until then I will see you around at the indoor centre for youth coaching and indoor league cricket 

A huge thank you to all players for an enjoyable season and an honorable mention to the parents of the youth players for ferrying them to the game , I hope you agree it was so worth it.

Rob Franks - Parley Dorset Xl captain.

Parley 4s vs Chalke Valley Lions - Saturday 1st June

A young team comprising of 4 x u13s and 1 x u15 arrived in Bowerchalke to a stunning ground with was very picturesque. 

Losing the toss we were asked to bat first, opening up was Chris Smith and u13 Jake Courtiour we dug in well before Jake was sadly out caught behind. Another u13 Keir Humphrey strode to the crease full of confidence and tried to stamp his authority on the game playing some lovely shots before departing for 8.

Chris Smith while still at the crease looking good playing his shots with Liam Carpenter in support .

Liam departed for 3 and Harry Coole started well but got bowled for 3. Kieran Humpfrey jogged out to the crease and soon boomed a huge 6 before sadly departing on 12.

Matti Withnall in at number 7 played some lovely shots and looked to try and take the game to the Chalke valley bowlers. Chris Smith eventually got out for a great knock of 39 which bought Ben Phillips to the crease but didn't trouble the scorers getting out 1st ball.

Another of our u13s Harry Franks was next in and the double act of Rob Lewis and Rob franks prayed he would survive long enough for them both to pad up! Thankfully Harry was very watchful and patient and between him and Matti they steered the innings to its conclusion of 118-7 from our 40 overs. (Matti 16 not out and Harry 14 not out ) the tail certainly wagged! This left the 2 Robs breathing a sigh of relief ad they wernen't needed to wield the willow on this occasion.

A wonderful tea was given and devoured and we got underway trying to defend a relatively low score on a fantastic deck which got better.

The Chalke Valley batters started well until Kieran Humphreys left arm swing trapped one of the openers LBW for 4.

Ben Phillips opened up from the other end and was soon in the wickets himself and was pick of the bowlers with 2-18 .

Harry Franks and Matti Withnall both bowled well and made sure the Chalke batters had to be patient (Harry 0-13 and Matti 0-17) 

This bought on the team version of the 2 Ronnie's in Rob franks and Rob Lewis who both bowled well but had no luck early on with Rob Lewis having 3 catches dropped. Thankfully they both managed to bag a wicket apeice (Rob Lewis 1-22 and Rob Franks 1-29) coupled with 2 great catches from Harry Franks , 1 from Chris Smith and 1 very sharp catch from wicketkeeper Liam Carpenter. 

Sadly Chalke valley managed to get to their target at the end of the 22nd over.

Even though the result went against us the most pleasing thing was seeing our youth players who have all come up through the youth system from u8s playing well and competing in adult cricket.

Every single one of them can be super proud of themselves.

The futures bright The futures parley ! 

A massive thank you to Chalke Valley who were an absolute pleasure to play against and made us all so very welcome. We look forward to the return fixture in a few months time.

Parley 4s vs Christchurch 3s - Saturday 11th May.

Parley 151-9

Christchurch 71 all out

Basking in beautiful sun the Parley 4s arrive at Wareham recreation ground for a home game due to Littledown being unavailable. 

In our team we had no less than 6 debutantes.

Pete Ellis and kieran Humpfrey were the adult debutants and 4 of our u13s which were Harry franks , Jake Courtiour ,Kier Humpfrey and Harry Coole and father and son combinations of Kieran and Kier Humpfrey and Rob and Harry franks. Great to see.

Winning the toss (yes Rob Franks actually won a toss) and we decide to have a bat.

Opening up were Chris smith and Steve Roe.

We found ourselves in a bit of strife at 23-3 Harry Coole batted sensibly to stop the flow of wickets.

After drinks we had father and son duo of Keir and Kieran Humphrey at the crease who put on a great partnership of 70 odd before we lost both players. ,Keir falling for a fabulous debut knock of 40 and Kieran a patient 28.

Roman Mitchell came in at 8 and with some lusty blows went for a run a ball 25 taking our total to 151-9 from our 40 overs.

We went about defending the total with opening bowlers Roman Mitchell and Rob Lewis keeping things very tight and bowling well.

We got a break thorough from another u13 debutante Harry Franks bowling the Christchurch opener through the gate, then Harry picked up his second wicket of the match with a very sharp caught and bowled.

Kieran Humphrey bowled some lovely left arm swing and was very economical and put the pressure on the batters.

After drinks adult debutante Pete Ellis bowled superbly getting a couple of wickets and Rob franks chipped in with 3 wickets of his own.The final wicket fell to another u13 debutante Harry Coole to wrap up the win for Parley.

A special mention to Jake Courtiour who took a smart catch off the skippers bowling! And to Steve Roe for some great stuff behind the stumps 

The most pleasing thing about the whole day was seeing so many youth players across both parley and Christchurch teams with 8 out of the 22 players all u16.

Highlights- 

Keir Humphrey 40

Kieran Humphrey 28

Roman Mitchell 25

Chris Smith 20 

Rob Franks 6-3-11-3

Pete Ellis 5-2-3-2

Harry Franks 5-1-14-2 

A massive well done to all players for a throughly enjoyable game and a brilliant win.

Thanks must also go to Wareham cricket club for allowing us to use their ground at short notice to ensure the game was able to go ahead.

Next week we travel to Swanage in what will be another enjoyable encounter.