Our U15s finished their season in the boys’ league against a very competitive Thatcham side. On a beautiful sunny Friday evening captain Izzy lost the toss and the boys decided they were going to bat first.

Falkland had a secret weapon, Hollie, who last season, played for the Thatcham side. She opened the bowling and the opening batter attempted to hit her for a six on every ball, with the fourth ball crashing into his middle stump. The next wicket fell in the third over, Izzy with a direct hit, and the batter was run out. The next wicket was also a run out. Amelia with a great stop and a calm throw to Isabel, who whipped off the bails.

At half time we swapped keepers, Isabel was quickly into the game as she clean bowled the next batter. Two overs later she pulled off a fantastic diving catch off the bowling of Cordi. As if that wasn’t enough, she then bowled the next over and picked up her second wicket, with another clean bowled. The girls were fielding well with very little space for the boys. Mya picked up the next wicket with a lovely caught and bowled, and followed that with a fantastic clean bowled, all in the same over. Milla finished off the innings with a clean bowled, meaning the boys finished on 121-9.

The girls needed to bat well and get off to a good start in the fading light. Amelia and Alexa opened the batting. The third ball saw the first wicket, as Alexa missed a full straight ball. This brought Cordi to the crease. Her first ball was a beauty that swung in and hit leg stump. Captain Izzy came in to face the hat-trick ball, which she managed to hit away for two runs.

But at the end of the first over Falkland were 3-2.

Rather than defend Amelia and Izzy went on the attack, Amelia hitting a number of beautiful fours, which flew to the boundary. The next wicket fell in the fifth over, Amelia was beaten by a very good spin ball. Falkland now 28-3. Hope joined Izzy at the crease. The two youngest girls took the game away from the Thatcham boys. They put on a fantastic 65 run partnership in 60 balls, before Izzy was retired for reaching her 30 run limit. Caitlin came in, but was dismissed by a quick ball. Milla joined Hope at the crease and the two girls saw us home with just four balls to spare. Both Milla and Hope hitting vitally important fours in the last couple of overs.

Falkland finished 123-4.

This has been a hard season for what is a young U15 squad, but we managed to finish 6th in what was a strong boys’ league this year. We have seen some great development and improvements from all the girls, whether that be batting, bowling, fielding or more importantly their overall confidence both on the field and off. I’m really proud of all of the girls, and I’m looking forward to seeing them develop further in the coming seasons.

I would like to thank all of the girls for the hard work they have put in all year in training and matches, and thank you to the parents, who turn up in numbers home or away and cheer on not just their daughters, but the whole team. I say it a lot, but the girls can hear the support when they are playing.

Match Report - Ian Gibson