Greens U13
Matches
Wed 14 Jul 2021
Taunton Deane Cricket Club
Greens U13
27/7
30/1
Newport
Mmmmm.

Mmmmm.

Matt Frowde14 Jul 2021 - 22:13
Share via
FacebookTwitter
https://www.tauntondeanecricke

To paraphrase Julius, They came, they saw, they conquered.

Well, where to start. I think, on this occasion, perhaps the end is most appropriate. We lost.

I think the match might have been lost the moment the coin left our captains hand and flipped through the air and the opposition called correctly. They chose to field.

The choice of fielding or batting first brings so much to the match and with the way the pitch played today I think it was crucial as we were put on to the back foot early in the match. The ball up the hill was just not taking off – it was skimming through and required a good shot to block it.

Their bowlers today were Mariam and Carys.

Megan and Lily opened for us – with Megan facing the first balls. Megan played a lovely stroke off the second ball to score a nice 2 runs – but off the fourth was bowled to a straight delivery that crashed into the wickets.

Katie came to the crease and played out the over and the first 2 balls of the second – scoring well.

Lily got onto strike and played a lovely 2 followed 2 balls later by a well struck 4 finishing the over with a bye.

Lily was now up against Mariam. She read the flight of the ball correctly but did not quite control the bottom hand and the ball flew up into the hands of Carys. The girls had crossed which brought Katie onto the strike. Katie was then herself caught off the bowling of Mariam again into the hands of Carys. As with Lily, although the flight of the ball was read the defensive shot was not quite there and it was almost a carbon copy of the previous wicket.

Next up was Jess to face Carys. The first ball was dealt with without issue but the second clattered into the stumps. The ball coming up the hill was just not bouncing – it was skidding off the surface and running in low against the stumps and this did for Jess.

Izzy stepped up. A bye was found off the first ball and Lulu then blocked one nicely before grabbing a 1 bringing Izzy back on strike. This time it was Izzy’s turn to lift one into the air – this time into the hands of Emily.

It’s safe to say that things were not going to plan.

Jas was next in and Mariam was still bowling. Lulu and Jas saw out the next over with no loss of wickets. Back came Carys. A 1 from Lulu brought Jas back on strike and the next ball saw Carys hit the stumps low down again. A ball that again did not take off worked it’s way through.

We were now down to the last wicket as Ami came to the crease. Another run was added with a lovely shot. However the first ball of Mariams fourth over saw Ami bowled what I thought was a high ball and should have been a no ball – in her attempt to play something on the ball the bat was too high and uncontrolled and the ball flew once again into the hands of Carys. It looked like a no ball to me but was not given and we were done for.

27 all out off 6.1 Overs. 3 wickets taken up the hill and 4 down. We never really got our defensive shots working against the straight ball either to get bat on ball or to keep it down when we did block it.

Kudos to Lulu she was a rock in the last match carrying her bat for a 25 Unbeaten and she was also not out today facing the most balls of the team scoring 4 of the 11 balls faced.

So to the fielding. Let’s be honest 27 was probably not enough. Katie had the right attitude at the break saying that they had defended a similar score before so it’s not impossible and she had a point – if we had been bowled out for that score on that pitch there is no reason why we couldn’t do the same.

Izzy and Lily opened the bowling and for the first 2 overs really pinned the Newport pair to the crease, if only it had rained really really really heavily after the first 2 overs we would probably have won on the Duckworth Lewis calculations. Unfortunately the downpour was not forthcoming.

Lily did bowl a fantastic first over taking a wicket in a maiden over. She was moving the ball really well and making the batters work. Izzys first over too was really tight going only for 1.

The wicket brought Carys to the crease who had just tormented us with the ball.

The key difference between the 2 innings was the way the batters played themselves in. They were not hurried and their defensive shots were largely straight and kept low. When the ball was bang on target they seemed to block it and block it well. There is an art to a nice defensive shot and it needs to be something that all batters can call on sometimes.

Both Carys and Mariam faced 6 dot balls each at the start of their innings - that’s not to say they blocked all 6 of those – far from it there were opportunities - several times they played and missed and the ball just skimmed past the wicket but when it was on target the ball met bat.

From here on in things went downhill and suffice to say the game was wrapped up after 5 overs with Katie bowling the fifth and final over.

As the game was over so quickly we agreed to let the rest of their team have 10 overs to bat – given that they had come so far. Lily bowled the first over and took 3 wickets. There was a strange run out off the bowling of Katie where both myself and the opposition scorer couldn’t quite work out how the girl was out. And then Ami finished the “2nd innings” off with a wicket off the last ball of her over. We’d cleaned up the tail for 8 in 3 overs. Oh what could have been!

The root cause of the loss was our batting – I think if we had managed to score even 10 more we may well have had an opportunity. But our defensive play was not there – the nice straight drives or straight blocks had gone from our locker. I think we know how to play them but maybe the occasion got to us – maybe pairs cricket has made us not realise the real impact of losing a wicket. I also think if we had bowled first we would have put them under serious pressure with our bowling but to be honest it’s all ifs, thens and maybes.

Anyway - It’s been fun whilst it lasted – all the girls who have played in the competition should be really proud of how they have played. We can savour the win at Whimple and the way we played against Plymouth. If I had to pick three highlights – then Katies 50 and Izzy’s bowling display both against Plymouth would be 2 of them and the third would just be the way the girls play – always supportive and encouraging no matter what is happening on the pitch they stick together and help each other and have a great team spirit - and that’s probably the most important thing.

After the match an old man sat on a bench and watched me struggle to put up the rope around the square. Turns out there are pole holes where the poles need to go and if you use those the perimeter of the square is about the same size as the rope, if you go all adhoc not so much. Luckily he hadn’t been there whilst I had spent 10 minutes or so looking for a blue rope or he would have thought I was a complete idiot. I don’t know why I expected the rope to be blue – but that was what I was looking for – completely oblivious to the massive coiled orange ropey thing lying not too far from the poles. Anyway, I digress – have I mentioned we’re undefeated in the league!

Match details

Match date

Wed 14 Jul 2021

Kickoff

18:00

Meet time

17:30

Location

Instructions

Lady Taverners Regional Semi Final.

You're out you're out cricket.

Match is at Blagdon Hill pitch.

Meet at 5.30 for a warm up and some inspirational words from Steven.
Team overview
Further reading