Sunday morning saw a strong Falkland U15s team led by Immi take on an equally strong Hursley Park team. Immi won the toss and elected to field first.

The discussion in the changing room before the start, was getting yourself in, playing straight for the first few overs and looking to score off any width. Immi and Chloe opened the batting, Immi started strong with two sweet shots on the on side, both crossing the boundary. But, with the final bowl of the over, Immi missed a straight on and was dismissed for 8. Avy was next in. Chloe was on strike for the next over, she too got off the mark with a boundary, but she too played around a straight delivery and was clean bowled on the last ball of the over. Falkland were now 13-2 and needed a partnership.

Avy and Lou were looking good and adding runs, Avy was next to go, again another straight ball was her downfall. 27-3. Izzy came in to partner Lou, the girls were running well between the wickets, and both girls found the boundary, Lou with a beautiful drive and Izzy with a nice cut shot. Lou was next out caught at midwicket. 48-3. Maya joined Izzy but was dismissed two balls later, after stepping out of her crease, she was stumped. 49-5.

Izzy and Lucy were left to try and post a target, and they did brilliantly, adding 20 runs before Lucy was caught. Sienna was the last batter in, and started strong hitting a lovely four to the legside boundary. Izzy was batting very well, playing down the straight balls and attacking the width, she finished 19 not out, after a mix up left Sienna short of her ground, and Falkland posted 84.

To win the game the girls needed to bowl and field well, against a Hursley side that regularly post 200+. Avy opened the bowling with pace and taking the Hursley opener in the first 3 balls. At the other end Lou was also bowling quick, so quick in fact that she broke a bail as she claimed the second wicket. 11-2. Lou claimed the 3rd wicket in her second over, a great LBW, Hursley coaches and parents were looking worried at 25-3.

A little partnership grew, but Lucy put an end to that as she picked up two wickets in her first over, a fantastic clean bowled, followed by a good catch from Avy. 45-5. Hursley were getting close to the target as our girls were bowling a few wides, but at with them needing just six more runs, Izzy got the next break through, a fast straight ball beating the batter and knocking the stumps over.

Hursley needed 6 runs, Falkland needed one wicket, and unfortunately it was Hursley who got what they needed, finishing 86-6. We pushed a strong team all the way today and should be proud of how close we came. I feel that on another day, we would win that game, very small margins were the difference. Thank you to the girls for their efforts, Tristan for umpiring and for the parents for their support.

Match Report - Ian Gibson