Saturday was the opening day of the season for the Development X1, which is designed to give youth players a friendly introduction to adult cricket. It was a big step up in class for some of the youngsters, and the nerves were on show early with Brian McKenna panicking when he was asked to make the move up from coffee boy to scorer. Despite some initial pencil troubles, he soon settled in and ended up producing a flawless scorecard which has cemented his position for the season. Having won the toss and elected to bowl, Charlie Askew opened up with a confident swagger. With Sean Condron charging in from the other end, the batsmen were rattled and throwing up chances. Despite some athletic dives in the field from AN Other (anonymous on advice from his legal team), nothing stuck until some sharp fielding led to Brian Thornes whipping off the bails for the first wicket. When Oscar McCormack changed things up with some unplayable deliveries, his Dad was so busy admiring his performance that there was a delayed decision when a nick from the batsman was caught behind - a feat that was nearly repeated when Andrew Thornes started to find the line outside the off stump which would have led to the dream debut for the Thornes’s. After Aaron Doyle had softened the batmen up with some bouncers, the girls came on. First Emilia Tarbox who bowled a nice line and length, and then Kate McKenna, who starred with two wickets that encouraged Niamh Coleman off the ropes and had Adamstown scrambling to put their retired batsman back in. They finished on 142 and after a standout performance on the tea by Sinead and Rebecca, Aaron and Sean were sent out with instructions to get us to 60. After a solid start Sean fell on 9, but Aaron proceeded to destroy the opposition bowling with a dazzling display that saw him reach a very impressive 50 with 7 fours and a six before being retired to a standing ovation. Charlie, feeling terrific after one of the best sandwiches he’d ever had, played some lovely shots for a well taken 16 and then Oscar, who looked at one point like he might finish it off, fell on a very creditable 24 leaving us on 114 for 3. A good old fashioned collapse ensued that had everyone gripped as the last man went in needing 4 to win off the last 8 balls, and Malahide scraped home with 3 balls to spare. A great game of cricket and thanks to Adamstown for playing in a terrific spirit and forcing Niamh and Emilia to admit that despite being there under duress, it was actually really good fun.