Last Ball Decider

On a grey morning with a threat of rain pretty much everywhere at some point we headed to North Curry. Our opening game of the season was against North Curry and was the closest game of the season to date and this match was likely to be as tough.

Jess was our captain today and won the toss, electing to field.

Lulu was our wicket keeper and as she usually does performed the role well.

Our opening 4 bowlers were Lily, Ami, Jess and Gemma. They all bowled really well and each only went for 2 runs. A really good start seeing North Curry crawl to 208 after 4 overs. Ami very nearly took a fantastic caught and bowled getting one hand onto the ball as it came off the bat but unfortunately not being able to make it stick – it was a great reaction to get a hand to it.

Megan, Tass, Emily and Monnie bowled the next 4. Megan delivered a great wicket maiden – well done Megan. Tass took a fantastic caught and bowled off the fifth ball of her over. Emily started with a wild wide but then got her eye in and delivered 5 super dot balls. Monnie followed this over up with a Maiden over - a great effort Monnie.

A really good set of 4 overs which put the batters under pressure and really held up the score. At the end of this pair the score had fallen back to 201.

Lucy, Lily, Ami and Jess were the next 4. Lucy had a couple of wides but generally kept the batters off the score sheet. Lily, as in her first over, pinned the batters at the crease and only conceded 1 run off the bat and 1 bye. Ami was up against a left hander and didn’t quite adjust her line correctly, as a consequence he was able to plunder a couple of 4’s down the leg side – adjusting the line we’re bowling to is something we need to be of aware when bowling to left handers. Jess had another solid second over conceding only 2 runs.

At the end of the third pair the score had moved onto 217.

Gemma, Megan, Tass & Emily bowled the next 4 against the pair of Tristan & Ollie. Gemma’s over was similar to her first although conceding 1 more run via the delivery of a wide mid way through. Megan’s second over produced some hot headed running from the batters which resulted in 2 run outs. I think the pressure of the slow moving score got to the new batters and they chased runs without carefully considering the fielders. Lily got the first run out with a direct hit. Ami was then quick on the ball and as the batters came back for a second she launched it towards Lulu who whipped off the bails. A great spell of fielding by the girls which helped to push the score back down again. Tass’s second over couldn’t quite match the magic from her first, going for 4 runs and a wide. Emily then came on – a sharp bit of fielding by Megan brought a run out on the first ball. On the second ball Emily delivered the ball direct to the stumps for a great wicket - eventually conceding only 4 runs off the over (but for a net -8)

At the end of this pair the score had moved onto 211

Monnie, Lucy, Megan and Lily bowled our last 4 overs. Monnie and Lucy had a couple of looser overs with a smattering of wides and runs off the bat – Lucy very nearly got hands to a well hit ball from one of her deliveries but the ball was hit a little too hard which did not give her quite enough time to react to it. Megan and Lily finished the overs off both going for 4 runs off their overs.

At the end of the innings the score had moved on to 232.

During the fielding Gemma pulled off a lovely stop from a good driven ball – from where I was sat it looked like it may have smarted a little – causing a little hand shake. We very nearly had another run out – It looked like Megan had time to get the ball back carefully to the stumps to take the stumping but I think a rush of blood caused the ball to be launched with force – unfortunately the ball missed – we’ve got to keep calm in those situations and play it sensibly.

Overall I think we bowled and fielded well - we only conceded 10 wides (although these very nearly came back to bite us) and we seemed to have them quite well pegged back throughout the innings which caused them to at times make some rash decisions when chasing runs.

I felt fairly confident at the changeover – 233 to win is well within our capabilities and it should have been a relatively easy win – we just needed to play sensibly – no need to chase runs too desperately – just play a sensible solid innings.

Megan and Gemma opened the batting for us. The first 2 overs went smoothly – the girls looked confident and moved the ball around well to pick up 10 runs made up from 7 singles a bye and a wide. Just before the third over the scorer next to me said “The next bowler is Harry - he’s got a bit of golden arm”. He was not wrong.

The balls from Harry were not particularly quick but they posed us problems. Whether it was movement in the air or just a misreading of the pace they caused us a lot of trouble. Megan was bowled from the second and caught from the fourth. Gemma was bowled from the fifth before Megan picked up a 4 from the last ball. A torrid first 5 balls for us which really impacted our score. The final over saw normality return with a good haul of 5 runs.

At the end of this pair the score had moved on to 202. Given the 3 wickets (18 runs) lost it was not a bad runs haul from the 4 overs – unfortunately the wickets are not ignored on the score card. We seemed to be having an issue getting past 210 every time we got close we would lose a wicket or two and this would be a pattern repeated throughout the innings we would move forward confidently before falling back.

Lulu and Ami were the next pair in – they came in looking to solidify the innings and get some momentum back on the board. Lulu blocked the first over scoring no runs. The second over was a mix of runs off the bat and some well run byes. Ami was bowled by Noah in the third and Golden Arm Harry in the fourth. In between those wickets the girls did add some good runs and byes.

At the end of this pair the score had moved onto 207.

Lucy and Emily came to the crease next. Lucy was bowled on her third ball from Jayden and also succumbed to Golden Arm Harry in the last over of the pair. In between though the girls ran and batted well. Lucy hit some really good strong shots on several occasions. They ran really well together; on one occasion claiming 3 runs from a good Emily shot and making good use of the overthrow– there was some really loud clear calling from the girls.

At the end of this pair the score had moved on to the dreaded 210.

The rain had also started at this point – it was on and off for quite a while throughout the game from this point on. I was concerned at one point that the match would be abandoned.

Tass and Jess came in next. They batted really well as a pair and were just what we needed at this point – they both carried their bats and both scored some valuable runs. Tass picking up some good singles and a 2 off her final ball. Jess hitting a lovely 4 and also picking up a couple of singles and 2s. Good solid no nonsense batting.

At the end of this pair the score had moved onto 234.

Our final pair were Lily and Monnie. They went in to bat in the strange position of knowing that we just had to bat sensibly, not concede any wickets and we would win. I think this knowledge perhaps hampered their game. The first over was a tight one bowled by Tristan going for only 1 run. Taking us to 235.

The next over saw Lily bowled by Josh plus the addition of 4 runs taking us to 234

The third over saw the addition of 1 run to take us to 236.

Into the final over and we were three runs ahead.

Dot

Dot

Wicket – Monnie was bowled by Hayden we dropped to 3 runs behind the required winning score.
Our umpire Lee (thanks Lee) very sensibly asked for the score board to be updated so the batters knew what was required – which was 4 from 3.

Bye – the girls profited from a missed ball sneaking a quick single – great running. My legs were nervously jiggling furiously at this point.

Bye – again some great running from the girls sneaking in a quick single – I very nearly re-started biting my nails – it took me 43 odd years to finally stop biting them and this over very nearly drove me back to the habit.

Last ball - 2 runs required – Lily on strike. Lily made good contact driving the ball off away in front of her to the leg side crucially away from a fielder – the girls set off determinedly 1 was easy they set off for the second - the fielders had by this time got the ball in hand and it was do or die. Monnie hared back to the bowlers end and got her bat down before the ball could be put through the wicket consequently sealing the victory – it was heart in mouth stuff and a fantastic finish to a game – made all the better by the fact that we were on the winning side.

North Curry have provided us with our closest games this season and it does add a little something extra when there is more pressure on the players at key moments.

I think our batting was a little below par today - the North Curry bowling attack is the best we have faced this season which provides some explanation – it was also grey and cold which might also feed into it; the outfield was wet and slow and the grass slightly long which meant even when the ball was well hit it did not move particularly far. And finally I think also we went in knowing we didn’t have too score many and that mindset probably also impacted our progress. We didn’t have any run outs this week which was a plus and our running seemed to be well thought through and clearly called.

Our bowling though was at our usual consistent level - accurate and at a good speed.

Bowling Figures:
Megan 3-1-6-1
Emily 2-0-6-1
Tass 2-0-9-1
Lily 3-0-6-0
Jess 2-0-3-0
Gemma 2-0-5-0
Monnie 2-1-6-0
Ami 2-0-12-0
Lucy 2-0-12-0
Batting (number in brackets is outs)
Jess 10 (0)
Megan 10 (2)
Emily 8 (0)
Gemma 7 (1)
Lucy 6 (2)
Tass 5(0)
Lily 5 (1)
Ami 5 (2)
Lulu 3(0)
Monnie 2(1)

The result confirms us as Champions of the League this season – well done to all the girls who have each contributed something over the season. Today’s game goes to show that every run scored, or straight ball blocked or run saved or dot ball delivered counts – you really have to play every ball as if this one could be the one that makes all the difference to the outcome.

There is no training this week as we have a Regional Semi-Final cup game against Newport at Blagdon Hill. Next Sunday sees our final game of the season at Staplegrove.