Southgate 231 (46/3)
Enfield 217 (32/3)
8 over pairs match, scoring starts at 200
In the first match of the day, Southgate batted first and Fran Fell and Nat Prout got the innings off to a good start, running well and never looking like losing a wicket. Our second pair Emma Dangerfield and Mel Rivera Caceres struggled to get going and eventually their frustrations resulted in a run out. They were followed by Yo Mackie and Piumi Bandara who rotated strike more effectively, but were each dismissed once, meaning that after 6 overs the net score was only 11.
Geethika Ayomi and Antonia Titizoglu strode out as our final pair with plenty to do and set about the task brilliantly. Their first over was dispatched for 12 as Geethika twice found the boundary and had the ball stop short twice more, each time Antonia encouraged her back for a second run. The second over saw more aggressive running as the pair racked up 20 runs without losing a wicket in their 2 overs, meaning we set a net target of 32 from 6 overs.
This was a much more competitive total than it had looked like we might post at one stage, but we would still have to bowl well to get the win, and bowl well we did!
Enfield sent out their captain and strongest batter Abbie alongside a less experienced player as their first pair. Fran bowled a brilliant first over, restricting the pair to 4 runs, despite Abbie facing 5 of the 6 balls. Nat then bowled a very tight over that had the opposition captain stranded at the non-striker's end and her desperation to get back on strike eventually led to a run out - a much welcome first wicket.
Piumi kept the pressure on with her over going for a miserly 3 runs, before Emma repeated this trick. The pressure finally told on the pair’s final ball as Emma induced an aerial shot which Fran pouched gratefully.
The balance had started to lean our way and Geethika tipped things further by producing a fabulous maiden over. Each ball hit a good length outside off stump with good pace before neatly landing in Yolanda’s waiting gloves. An impressive showing of consistency that the Enfield batter had no answer to. The batting pair were able to maneuver Yolanda’s over more successfully, and as they left the field their net score stood at 11, exactly what ours had been at the same stage.
Enfield had saved two of their strongest batters for the final pair, but matching the exploits of our 4th pair was always going to be difficult, particularly with Fran and Geethika finishing out our bowling innings. Fran’s first 3 balls went for 2 runs before she produced a bit of magic. A good length ball that swung away just enough to beat the batter’s defensive stroke before clipping the top of off stump – more or less the perfect delivery – effectively ended the contest. Geethika did concede some runs in her second over, but Southgate recorded a 14 run victory.
Southgate 257 (62/1)
Enfield 232 (52/4)
8 over pairs match, scoring starts at 200
Southgate again batted first and Megan Gibbs and Fran Fell got the innings off to a perfect start. They each hit a 4 and ran really well in between, putting pressure on the Canons fielders.
Alanka Goonawardena and Emma Dangerfield continued in the same vein, striking 3 fours between them and running well to only allow 2 dot balls, although Alanka did edge behind off Canon’s talented young spin bowler for what turned out to be the only wicket we lost in the innings.
Geethika Ayomi and Devki Shah got a little bit stuck in the face of good bowling in their first over, but rallied well, rotating strike and finding the boundary once to add 9 in their second over, again without loss.
Yolanda Mackie and Soph Meyer combined well as the final pair only allowing 3 dots between singles and the occasional boundary.
This was a fine batting display and the blueprint for how I want our team to approach the batting side of these games - hitting 4s where possible, but running aggressively and often, ensuring that we play out as few dot balls as possible. 62 runs for the loss of just 1 wicket meant we’d set Canons an imposing net target of 57 in 8 overs.
Alanka bowled a decent first over, going for only 2 runs, but also bowling 2 wides. Canons’ first pair were then able to get Fran away a couple of times, meaning they left the field at 18-0, the exact total that Megan and Fran had managed.
However, any hope Canons might’ve had of repeating what we’d done to their bowling was quickly snuffed out by Soph, who took 2 wickets in 2 balls. The first was a top edge well taken by Alanka running forward from behind the stumps, the second saw Megan use all of her assets to hold on to another catch.
Canons now required 46 runs from 5 overs, more than 9 runs per over. Megan and Emma bowled overs that each went for 8, before Geethika bowled a very tidy over that went for only 3.
The final pair knew they had to throw caution to the wind and with Devki bowling nicely they took a run that wasn’t on and Soph calmly completed the run out. Yo took a wicket with her penultimate ball, a catch confidently taken by player of the match Soph, to extend our winning margin to 25 runs.
Max Joseph