Success in the gloom

Not sure where the sun had gone but we set the pitch up as rain started falling. Not quite what we were hoping for.

The sky was quite dark pretty much throughout with thick clouds and I was quite concerned that we might not be able get the full 40 overs in.

Lola was our captain today, she lost the toss and the opposition captain decided to field – oddly this was completely against the recommendations of his team who were around him.

We had Graham Driskel representing us tonight – we did have some girls at training who we could have called on but we wanted to keep those remaining players together and not impact that training session. With a couple of drop outs after we’d planned the match and training session we were short so Graham stepped in and allowed us to play a 10v10 game. Thank you Graham.

We were playing a quite inexperienced Broadway & Horton team and they struggled throughout to score runs off the bat as well as protect their wickets.

Lola and Megan Clark bowled against the opening pair and runs came quite quickly - if not always off the bat. Megan was consistent in putting the ball in the right place time and again - I think with the exception of 1 ball. Lola had a bit of a tougher time after a long day but kept at it and found her rhythm more in the second over. Well done for persevering Lola.

Megan Driskel took our first wicket off the bowling of Megan Clark with a good run out – I think a direct hit.

Once the first pair had completed their partnership the runs dried up considerably.

Megan Driskel and Erin were our next bowlers; Megan bowled 2 tight overs only going for 3 runs. Erin had a great spell bowling 2 overs taking 1 wicket and only conceding 2 runs and 2 extras. Fantastic effort from you both Megan and Erin.

Graham and Lucy were our next bowling pair - Graham had a splendid first over going for only 1 run and taking a wicket with a lovely straight ball which worked its way past the bat. There was also a great run out by Emily Bird with a fantastic direct hit. Great Job Emily.

Graham then repeated his previous wicket ball in his second over and came up with another wicket. Super bowling Graham.

Lucy persevered with her bowling but something didn’t quite click today – I know she will come back stronger next time – she kept at it though and didn’t let her head drop showing exactly the right attitude.

The next bowling pair were Issy and Emily Cameron. First off I need to apologise to Emily – I managed to omit her bowling from the report on Sunday. She made sure I couldn’t omit her tonight. Her first over was a wicket maiden - a great over Emily. Her second over only cost 2 runs. A really good 2 over spell that was sufficient to see her picked to bowl one of the 2 spare overs.

Issy is starting to get on top of her deliveries - although had a mixed second over putting down a couple of wides but also taking a wicket via a fantastic catch taken by Erin – a great effort moving towards and diving\falling for the ball, finishing on the ground proudly clasping the ball – a great catch Erin - I think it goes down as one of the catches of the season so far in my opinion - because of the efforts you had to make to get to it.

Our final “pair” were Emily Bird, Emily Cameron and Graham – Lola having decided to ask Emily C and Graham to bowl the 2 extra overs resulting from Monnie being wicket keeper.

Emily Bird took a wicket with the final ball of her first over – a nicely bowled ball taking off the bails.

Emily Cameron then had a blinding third over. Taking a caught and bowled off her second ball and knocking over the bails for her second. A really good spell putting the ball in the right place pretty much every time and reacting well to take the catch.

We then finished the innings with a maiden for Emily B and Graham conceding only 1 run off the final over.

We took a lot of wickets and stopped them scoring many runs at all and the innings closed on 209.

Monnie was our wicket keeper today – making some good stops behind the stumps – well done Monnie.

We had a relatively quick turnaround to ensure we got the game completed.

Lola and Erin opened the batting – they started really strongly; nicking singles on every ball of the first over – runs then dried up in the middle 2 overs. In the third over Erin hit a good shot for 2 but we also lost 2 wickets 1 bowled and 1 caught.

The final over saw Lola find her normal form taking 11 from the 5 balls she faced including a couple of lovely 4's at the end.

Next in were Megan Driskel and Megan Clark. They batted and ran well together. Megan D continued her batting form from Sunday hitting 13 runs from the first over. Including the first 6 that I think I have seen the Greens ever get. Super batting Megan.

Megan C contributed well to the partnership running superbly and picking off singles here and there with some lovely shots. We did lose a wicket during this period.

Lucy and Issy were next in, Lucy had much more of the strike and struck the ball well picking up 2’s regularly as well as singles. Well batted Lucy. Issy was run out following a slightly optimistic call for a single and then bowled late on. She did manage to repeat a shot that she played on Sunday – hitting the ball straight back over the bowler’s and indeed Umpire’s head.

Monnie and Graham were next in – they ran very aggressively thanks to some confident calling from Monnie, against a sharper fielding team some of the runs could have been perilous but tonight they worked perfectly. Monnie was out to a very good one handed reaction catch by the wicket keeper, however in the same over she did also manage to strike a nice 4. Graham contributed well to the partnership with some good solid batting and several good singles.

The final pair were the Emily’s, Cameron & Bird. They didn’t ever really look in trouble; playing the ball well and picking singles and the occasional 2 here and there. Although we did have a fairly mixed last over. Emily Cameron was caught and bowled – the bowler did tremendously well to take the catch as Emily B very nearly took him out running back to the crease whilst he was positioning himself for it. Emily B was herself then bowled before Emily C finished the innings off with a lovely 4.

I think that playing after a full day of school and after school activities probably hampered some of the girls performances, don't get me wrong every single one still put the effort in and played with great enthusiasm but the some of the Sunday morning freshness was missing. We weren't particularly stretched by the opposition tonight - but we still had to do the work taking the wickets and scoring the runs and we did what we needed to do. Well done Girls.

Thanks to you all for getting your girls (and Graham) to the game on time and thanks for helping to clear away at the end.

Hopefully I haven't omitted anyone - if I have then please do let me know!