Match Centre

Double Header Sees U16 Girls Finish Top

Monday evening saw Falkland U16s take on Hursley Park’s A team in a double header to wrap up the season. It was a season that saw our girls finish top of the league. Captain Lucy lost the toss and was asked to field first.

Hursley started strong as expected, manipulating the ball into the spaces and running well at every given opportunity. Isabel took the first wicket with a beauty, clean bowling the batter in the third over. Hursley were batting well, but our girls were causing them issues.

The next wicket was a run out, with Amelia producing a great piece of work behind the stumps. Grace picked up the next wicket with a ball too good for the batter, knocking over the stumps. Hursley finished on their lowest total of the season, 124 for 3.

Falkland needed to bat well, as the highest total against this team had been just 48. Captain Lucy and Amelia opened the batting and looked good from the start, with Lucy hitting a powerful six in the first over. The first wicket fell in the seventh over with the score on 34, Lucy bowled by a very fast delivery.

This brought Izzy to the crease. Izzy and Amelia put on a quick 20 run partnership before Izzy was unlucky to be caught off the netting of the roof, making a quick 10 from 15 balls. Amelia reached her retirement score of 25 on the penultimate ball of the game, leaving Grace and Isabel to finish things off.

The girls finished on a respectable 57 for 2 from their 12 overs. Going into game two, the focus was on learning from the Hursley girls, looking at how they manipulated the ball, ran between the wickets and threw themselves in front of the ball while fielding.

Game two started in the same fashion, with the Hursley Park batters finding the gaps and running well. Lucy picked up the first wicket in the second over with a beautiful inswinger. However, this brought the two main batters together, and the power hitting they demonstrated was outstanding. Both batters reached their retirement score of 25 inside 15 balls.

Our girls were not bowling badly, in fact they may have been bowling too well, allowing the batters to set themselves and swing through the line of the ball.

Our fielding was much improved in the second game. The girls picked up some field placements from their opposition and used them well. We managed to get two further wickets, both run outs involving Amelia, but the strong start meant that Hursley Park finished on 133 for 3.

We reversed our batting order for the second game and our girls were very impressive. Isabel and Grace opened the batting, both attacking the pace bowling and causing Hursley problems. We were scoring at seven an over for the first four overs before we lost our first wicket, a very unlucky run out, with Grace making her way back after a well made six, leaving the score at 25 for 1.

This meant Eleanor came in to bat with Isabel, but two balls later another wicket fell. Isabel drove the ball back at the bowler, who took a smart catch, making it 25 for 2. Izzy then joined Eleanor in the middle. The two youngest girls showed no fear against the pace attack and, if anything, took the attack to the bowlers.

In the five overs they batted together, they put on a 50 run partnership. The partnership was broken with two balls left as they looked for a quick run, with Eleanor just short of her crease. Amelia came in to face the final two balls and was caught off another good delivery. This meant that we finished on 76 for 4.

For some perspective, five of this Hursley team play for their indoor women’s team, who have won all their matches this season. Our girls still have two years left in this age category. I am really proud of how they performed and excited to watch them develop over the next few years. This is going to be a seriously good team.

Once again, thank you to the parents for driving them to the game and for all your support throughout the evening.

Match Report - Ian Gibson