Fresh from their Cup success, the U15 Girls team returned to league action with a home tie against a competitive Hungerford side. The visitors won the toss and elected to field first on a hot and sticky evening at the WCG.

Opening the innings, Immi and Ava made determined progress in setting a challenging total for the visitors. Some exquisite stroke play from both girls saw the ball despatched to the boundary in style. When Immi lofted a beautiful on-drive over the boundary for 6, the visitors were in no doubt that this was going to be an tough game.

Immi fell for 19 in the 4th over, but the introduction of Kira kept the pressure on, albeit briefly. When Kira was bowled for 6 in the next over, the Hungerford team sensed a shift and a slowing of the run rate.. Louise came to the crease, but fell swiftly for 1 to a ball which kept very low.

With runs slowing, Ava continued to push before, in the 12th over, she reached mandatory retirement as she passed 30 runs. With the middle order at the crease and the Hungerford bowlers having tightened up their lines, a somewhat lower total looked on the cards. Wickets started to fall at regular intervals with Flora (11), Milla (5), Ruthie (5) helping to keep the total moving forwards.

Anabel and Sienna dug in through the final 4 overs of the innings both remaining unbeaten. Sienna was in fine form and hit 5 boundaries in the last couple of overs, assisted by the calm resolve of Anabel helping to keep the strike rotating. Anabel finished on 1 not out and Sienna on an impressive 22 not out, both girls seeing the innings over the line and posting a challenging total of 145 for 6.

Alexa (0-11) and Maria (0-10) got the innings off to an accurate start, both limiting opportunities for the Hungerford openers to score freely. Milla (0-22) and Flora (0-10) continued to bowl straight and accurately frustrating the batters who started to fall behind the required rate.

The Hungerford batters responded and were looking to push for the singles to pick up the run rate. In the 8th over this led to the first wicket as Louise did an amazing diving stop in the field and got the ball back in to keeper Ava who completed the run out.

Falkland turned to Ruthie (0-15) and Sienna (0-15) to keep the pressure on Hungerford. Both girls providing straight and accurate bowling to keep on top of the batters. With the introduction of the spin of Anabel (0-9) the Hungerford batters saw a chance to push on the run rate. With the retirement at 30 of the remaining opening batter, Falkland turned to the pace bowling of Kira (1-10) and Louise (4-21) to slow the runs. The spin of Immi (0-8) came next to bamboozle the batters and the breakthrough came when an accurate piece of fielding from Anabel led to a runout.

But, with 4 overs to go and the visitors needing 40 runs for victory the crowd sensed a tense finish to the game. Falkland again turned to the pace bowling of Kira and Louise with Kira taking a wicket at the end of the 17th over, clean bowling the batter. Louise then turned the game on its head taking 3 wickets in the 18th over, including 2 from the last 2 balls, meaning she would need to wait until her next over to try and complete her hat trick.

A miserly 19th over from Kira whose pace was clearly unsettling the batters, along with a great runout from Alexa left Hungerford requiring 16 runs from the last over. As Louise delivered the first ball of the last over she picked up an edge and with a sharp catch from keeper Ava, she picked up her hat trick.

Confusion then reigned as the final Hungerford batter was unable to take to the crease due to injury. This brought the opening batter back with 5 balls remaining and 16 runs still required. Despite an edge for 4 and another boundary in the over, the girls held their nerve and closed out the innings with Hungerford coming up 5 runs short.

A great all-round team performance from the girls with everyone playing their part. In the face of stiff competition the girls held their own, let their cricket do the talking and walked off the field victorious.

Coach Tim Colby commented, "This amazing group of girls continue to get better each week and remain top of the league, unbeaten."