Reader Simon Holm shares his story of an unforgettable over in his first game for his primary school’s A-team.

My first primary school 50-overs game was also my first game for the school’s A-team. It was something I had worked on for the whole year and therefore wanted to make it special.

We had a fantastic batting lineup that smashed 350 runs off 45 overs, leaving our opponents quite a run chase. Being the secondary spinner, my first over was somewhere between the 35th and 40th overs. I was to bowl to batsman five in the order.

I forced myself to be calm. This was my last chance to prove what I could do. My first delivery was a quick one to middle stump, which the batsman defended.

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As I walked back, I racked my mind for ideas or tricks. My next delivery was a little shorter, just outside off-stump, which the batsman again tried to defend, but this time the spin beat him and I found myself dancing around the pitch, appealing to both umpires for the keeper’s stonk and a possible catch behind.

Denied and rather exasperated, I sought to spice things up a bit, sending my next one to the leg side with heavy spin. The batsman made to pull me over fine leg, but again the turn caught him and the ball missed the leg stump by inches.

Staring at the ball in disbelief, I became dimly aware of the umpire giggling. That was my limit. It was time for my final trick (drum roll). The wide, slow, full toss!

It worked like a charm. The batsman stepped out to slog over long-off, but only managed to edge it to mid-off… who unfortunately dropped the catch, sending me to my knees in frustration.

My last delivery was somewhat anticlimactic, which the batsman pushed away for a single. Although the captain allowed me to bowl two more overs, nothing exceptional happened.

Even though I have bowled quite a few overs in my primary school career, none matched this exceptional one!

– Simon Holm (13)