Tuesday evening saw the Falkland Thunder team play a strong Valley End team in an U15 girls' league match. Captain Lucy lost the toss and was asked to bat first, on a very warm evening.

Lucy opened with Amelia and both girls looked solid against a strong pace attack. Amelia was the first wicket to fall, looking for a boundary she found a Valley End fielder who pulled off a good high catch. But the pair had added 33 for that first wicket. Issy G was next in, her first ball was despatched to the boundary from a great cover drive. Lucy and Issy batted beautifully, Lucy had to retire in the 10th over after facing her 30 balls. She scored a near run a ball 29 runs including five fours.

If Valley End thought it would be easier for them they were in for a shock. Izzy G joined Issy G and the pair put the bowlers to the sword, Issy got to her 30 ball limit, scoring 28 with four fours, and Izzy got to her 30 balls scoring 38 hitting seven fours.

Grace had a good cameo, hitting 9 from eight balls, before a mix up saw her run out. Darcey was joined by Isabelle and put on 20 from the last 12 balls, with some great cricket shots.

Falkland finished on an impressive 167 for the loss of just two wickets.

Valley End had some impressive batters and set about this total in style, the first wicket fell in the 9th over, Amelia taking a fantastic caught and bowled, but the Valley End batters had put on 72 for this first wicket.

The batters were applying pressure and scoring runs at a good rate. The Thunder girls were making mistakes in the field they wouldn’t normally be making. Captain Lucy talked to the group asking them to try and stay calm, and it worked.

The next wicket fell as Darcey clean bowled the dangerous batter. Valley End were now 152-2. Lucy who was bowling so accurately picked up the next wicket after a good stumping from Amelia, 152-3. Valley End needed 15 from the last two overs. Captain Lucy and Izzy didn’t allow this to happen, only conceding 9 runs in the two overs, meaning Falkland won by just six runs.

This was a great game and enjoyed by all who watched and took part in it. There were some really important learnings in the game too, staying calm under pressure, setting the fielders deep when we are defending a high score, and batting sensibly, attacking the wider balls while defending the straight deliveries.

All the girls contributed to this victory and I hope they are all proud of their achievements. Once again thank you for all the great support from the boundary edge.

Report: Ian Gibson