Wednesday evening saw Falkland U15s take on a strong Basingstoke side at Dummer. Captain Izzy won the toss and elected to field first.

Lucy M opened the bowling and started strongly, picking up a neat caught-and-bowled off the final ball of her over. The Falkland girls were fielding brilliantly, constantly stopping the ball from reaching the walls. Izzy moved her fielders into excellent positions that restricted Basingstoke, forcing them to play straight and attack the back wall.

When Basingstoke did hit the ball straight, the Falkland girls stopped everything. Lucy, Katherine, Sienna, Izzy, and Mya all pulled off fine stops, while behind the stumps Isabelle was solid, dealing confidently with anything that came her way.

Basingstoke were restricted to just 52 runs from their 12 overs. Falkland needed to bat sensibly, requiring fewer than five runs an over for victory.

Lucy M and Mya opened the batting and were aggressive from the outset. Mya played some lovely drives through the off side, while Lucy smashed the ball straight back past the bowler. The Basingstoke bowlers had no answers to the Falkland opening pair.

Needing just three runs to win, Lucy was finally caught. She scored 20 runs from just 24 balls and, together with Mya, put on 50 runs in only seven overs. Izzy came in next and, with her first ball, found the gap for three runs to secure Falkland’s sixth win in seven games. Mya finished unbeaten on 19 from 20 balls.

The game continued so that all the girls could have a bat. This session saw Sienna undone by an unbelievable delivery that swung and deviated off the pitch before clipping the leg-stump bail. Isabelle hit two brilliant sixes, and Katherine played some strong shots.

This was one of the best fielding performances I’ve seen from a Falkland girls team. The level of encouragement and support on the field was clear for everyone to see. Every player attacked the ball with confidence, anticipated the shots the batters wanted to play, and positioned themselves brilliantly to cut off runs. I was very proud watching them all.

Thank you again to all the parents who braved the rush-hour traffic to arrive on time, and for all the support.

Match Report - Ian Gibson