The Greens go Marching on.

Today was a Lady Taverners cup competition against Plymouth Cricket Club.

We were playing the match at Blagdon Hill cricket ground, having requested a grass wicket for the cup game.

Izzy Reed was back from holiday and available to play today and was our Captain for the match, she unfortunately lost the toss and we were put into bat.

Ami and Lily were our openers and were up against the pick of the bowlers – Kat who bowled with speed and accuracy throughout and Megan who delivered some really good spin bowling.

We had a solid first over – Ami hit the first ball for a confident 1 which added to 4 byes and a 2 off the bat for Lily left us on 7.

Megan then came on to bowl – spin is not something we face often and after blocking the first ball Ami was undone by a turning ball. Leaving the crease with the score on 7 having scored 1 run.

Katie was our third batter. She started as she would play the rest of the innings with confidence allied with strength and power in the shot.

The first ball was blasted away for 4. The pair kept the score moving on regularly 7 off the second over, 5 off the third, 6 off the fourth 8 off the fifth. Lily was working hard at the crease picking up a good 4 in her innings as well as several well run 2’s. She did have a problem with a slight leg slide shot delivered at pace which she wasn’t quite sure what to do with. This was to be her undoing as in evading one - the ball found its way through and took out the bails. She had played a solid supporting role to Katie and between them they had moved the score onto 33 - Lily had picked up 12 and was our third top scorer.

Megan Driskel was our fourth batter. She came into the game in good form having plundered runs in the Wednesday game and having played well last Sunday. It was a much different proposition this week – the bowling a bit faster and a bit more accurate and a good spin bowler thrown into the mix and this made it harder to score runs. Megan stuck at it – picking up 6 runs in the 13 balls she faced - made up largely of well placed singles. Katie was continuing to play her game - one over in particular resulted in 4 4’s and a 2 – a super spell of batting.

When Megan’s innings finished, being bowled by Rosie the partnership had taken the score onto 75 -3 after 11 overs.
We had lost about half our wickets just over the halfway point – we were scoring well but I did have concerns that we might not see out our overs.

Lulu was our next batter; she came in and looked solid throughout – it was a tricky quiet start to the innings with not many balls to face as 3 wides were put down the wicket but from then she never let the bowlers or fielders settle.

Of the 28 balls she faced (of which 5 were wides) there were only 5 dot balls a really good innings; Lulu was our solid anchor which allowed Katie to continue her masterclass. Both batters scored well; Katie was continuing to pick up 4’s and Lulu was continuing to work the field.
Katie picked up a well deserved 50 around the 15th over of the innings – a fantastic performance Katie – you picked some great shots, scored several great boundaries and thoroughly deserved the standing ovation. As seems to happen a lot in cricket Katie fell shortly after scoring her 50 losing her wicket to Immy as a result of being bowled. The score had moved onto 106-4

Izzy Reed, our Captain, was next in – Lulu and Izzy kept the ball moving well between them and picking off several good singles. Izzy was eventually bowled off the first ball of the final over by Megan having scored 4 runs and the Lulu and Izzy between them (including extras) had taken the score to 139-5.

Harper was next in she picked up a good single off the first ball she faced. Lulu and Harper then tried to run a 2 off a neat Lulu shot – I think there was confusion as to whether the fielder had got the ball as there were 2 there but neither seemed to be making movement towards it unfortunately one of them was on it and the ball was returned smartly Harper was run out having faced only 1 ball.

Jessica was our final batter coming in in the final over – she picked up 1 run off the 1 or 2 balls she faced and was 1 not out. By my reckoning Lulu had contributed 25 Not Out in her innings a fantastic effort.

It was a good balanced batting performance - top scorer Katie with 50 looked solid throughout and was deserving of her round of applause. Lulu also looked un-moveable. Constantly working the fielders and she should be really pleased with her 25 Not Out. Lily was our next top scorer picking up a solid 12 runs. All the girls scored at least 1 run and for some of the girls a first proper cricket match I think they all did brilliantly with the bat.

Our innings closed on 142. A good score and one that I was optimistic we would be able to defend.

We ensured we refuelled during the innings changeover – replenishing fluids lost in the heat.

Steve and I had a rough idea of what we thought the bowling order should be but it was left to Izzy to work out what she wanted on the pitch.

Maggie and Olivia were the opening pair. Izzy opened the bowling herself and contributed immediately taking a caught and bowled with her third ball capturing the wicket of Olivia. Plymouth were 1 for 1 and it was a perfect start – by the end of the first over they had moved onto 6-1.

Kat was next in – she was suffering from the effects of Hayfever and was not on top form as the medication she had taken at changeover had not quite kicked in.

Katie bowled the next over and was bowling up hill which is always a bit more difficult. No wickets fell and the score moved onto 13.
Lily bowled the third over. On the third ball Kat hit the ball away but at some point after trod on the stumps knocking off the bails.

No one had noticed as eyes had followed the ball. She was honest enough to own up. She was originally given out by the Plymouth umpire and left the pitch - however after some discussions and objections from Plymouth about whether the ball was live - she was allowed to resume her innings as a dot was recorded on the score card.

A wide and dot followed before Kat was bowled by Lily – the ball striking the top of the stumps and dislodging the bails. The second wicket had fallen during the third over with the score on 17.

Megan came in to face the bowling she played some really strong shots picking up a 4 and a 6 in her innings and helped to move the score along quickly before falling with the score on 39 to one of many testing Izzy Reed deliveries.

Rosie Johnson now came to the crease. She formed a good partnership with the opener Maggie – they both moved the ball around well. Rosie played a very good innings finding the boundary on several occasions – picking up a fantastic 36 in her innings – the score really started moving along and the balance seemed to be heading back to Plymouth as they were picking up runs with relative ease.

However the opener Maggie was next to fall – she had played a good solid innings starting with 4s and then running well – she was undone by some great fielding by Katie with a direct throw to the stumps to take a run out. Fantastic fielding Katie.

The score was 71-4 – we had been at 75-3 at the same period – so the game was delicately balanced and the pressure was building both on batters and bowlers.

Next in was Elin – the score started to slow a little now – the ball was still being moved around well but our fielders were getting on top of the ball and stopping the singles. Rosie was still picking out the odd boundary but we were gradually re-imposing ourselves on the game.

Elin lost her wicket to a run out – the runners chancing a second against Jessica’s arm – the arm won. A great throw back to the stumps and bowler Harper whipped the bails off. The score was 97-5 and things were swinging strongly in our favour now.

Immy came to the wicket – joining Rosie. 4 Runs later Rosie fell to another Izzie Reed delivery in what would turn out to be final over. Izzy then finished the over as she had started it delivering the 7th and final wicket of Poppy with the last ball of the over and the game. Plymouth finished on 107 all out after 19 overs

To keep things fresh throughout Izzy switched the bowlers around. Our core strikeforce was built around Izzy, Katie, Lily & Jessica but Megan, Harper and Ami also contributed with an over each.

Harper contributing to a run out off her bowling by getting back to the stumps promptly and making herself available to whip off the bails. Ami bowled a great tight over conceding only 3 runs. Megan also put in a good turn - bowling to Rosie in her pomp she did concede a couple of boundaries but was always putting the ball in the right place.

Izzy was our star bowler today picking up 4 wickets 3 bowled and a caught and bowled finishing with figures of 5-0-11-4

Katie bowled all 5 of her overs up the hill and finished with figures of 5-0-16-0 – she did contribute to the wickets with a great run out.
Lily had figures of 4-0-15-1 – a really decent spell.

Jessica finished with figure of 2-0-11-0 – bowling both of her overs up the hill.

Harper finished with figures of 1-0-8-0 – she did contribute to the wickets with a great run out.

Ami came on near the end and put in a good tight over exactly as required and finished with figures of 1-0-3-0.

Lulu looked really solid behind the stumps – stopping pretty much everything that came her way – she has taken to this role really well – adjusting her position behind the stumps well depending on the bowler and stopping the ball well with whatever limb was readily available.

At the end of the match Pete the groundsman was very complimentary of Izzy’s bowling – in the years he has been working at the ground he said he has never seen a bowler work the ball past the bat so often and put the ball so close to the stumps without actually hitting the wickets - millimetres away. And despite that she still managed to pick up 3 bowled wickets. He was also very complimentary of the team as a whole – high praise girls. Well done.

It was a really good match - much tenser than the pairs cricket we normally play and the two teams seemed fairly well balanced – we probably just had a little more strength in depth but there were some great performances from both teams.

All of our batters got some runs on the board – but Katie and Lulu led the way delivering solid innings with the bat well done to both of you.
All of our bowlers worked hard and delivered good overs – its really useful to have some variety and bowling capability throughout the team as the change of a bowler can sow that seed of doubt into a batters mind.

The pick of the bowlers is obviously Izzy Reed who delivered 5 great overs down the hill - taking 4 wickets and conceding only 11 runs across the spell. Fantastic work. Katie had to bowl up the hill and put a lot of effort in for no reward in terms of wickets but the run out and the 50 should make up for that. Lily as she normally does chipped in with a wicket.

I thought we looked sharp in the field – good run outs by Katie Rowe and the combination of Jess and Harper were the highlights but we worked hard and intelligently around the team to stop the ball where we could and chase it down when it had passed the fielder.

Our next opponents will be either Newport or Abergavenny, I think at home and probably on the weekend of 17th/18th July.

Thank you girls you all did yourselves proud today – a brilliant performance.

Also thanks to Issy who turned up so that we would not be a fielder short in case Katie had to shoot off to Hockey and spent a long hot day watching other girls play cricket - thanks Tiz.

Thanks to Steve for umpiring.

Huge thanks to Pete for setting up the ground and helping to close it out at the end.

I have taken a plethora of photos during the game - all from the same probably not very good angle so they will most likely be dull. I did try and capture everyone although that was difficult when taking them from the same position on the boundary - there will be lots of burst shots so lots of pretty much the same thing! If I didnt catch your daughter in action - sorry - I did try! Anyway I will share the link to them via message so that access is restricted to ourselves.