Southgate Women 289 (119/6)
Gunnersbury Women 265 (100/7)
18 over pairs match, scoring starts at 200
On another beautiful day at The Walker Ground, captain Emma Dangerfield won the toss and chose to bat. Opening pair Megan Gibbs and Maddie Unthank justified Emma's decision by getting off to a flier, adding 21 without loss in their 3 overs. Megan faced the lion share of the strike and contributed 15 of those runs, but Maddie was an able deputy, striking a 4 when she was required.
The innings faltered slightly in the next phase as 5 wickets fell in 6 overs. Second and third pairs Piumi Bandara & Selena Kularatne and Shikhaa Gupta and Dinesha Maddu struggled to counter some disciplined bowling from Gunnersbury. Dinesha was particularly unlucky as she fell victim to a sensational catch from Gunnersbury’s Louise, who plucked a ball that was destined for 4 out of the air one handed!
Soph Meyer and Mel Rivera Caceres combined well to get the innings back on track, adding 20 runs for just 1 wicket in their 3 overs. They were followed by Yolanda Mackie (14) and Mareeni Raymond (7) who combined brilliantly to add 31 without loss in their 3 overs. Geethika Ayomi and Emma Dangerfield closed out the innings. Geethika was unable to unleash the carnage we’ve come to expect from her on this occasion, but Emma stepped up and found the boundary three times to add another 28 runs, again without loss.
Southgate closed their innings on 119/6 meaning Gunnersbury would require 90 runs to win from their 18 overs.
Gunns got off to a very strong start, hitting 5 boundaries in their opening three overs as they added 30 runs for 1 wicket. It was Geethika who picked up that wicket in an over that only went for 3 runs, had she not been so effective the situation could have been even worse. Soph, Yo and Megan each bowled tidy overs to the second pair, but went wicketless, so after 2 of Gunn’s 6 pairs their score stood at 42, a very strong position in pursuit of 90.
This period of pressure caused some fielding mistakes and frayed tempers, which can happen in close matches, particularly when a team has grown used to winning and having everything their own way. The best thing to do is take a deep breath, stay calm and focus on doing the right things, one ball at a time. That is more or less what the team did and they clawed back momentum in the third pair with Shikhaa and Dinesha each taking a wicket and Selena bowling a 3 run over. Their good work was continued by frugal overs from Maddie and Piumi, before Soph induced a catch, calmly taken by Emma.
The tide had now turned back towards Southgate, who now have plenty of experience closing out second innings successfully and Geethika and Shikhaa returned for good overs either side of a devastating one from Emma. Leading from the front she picked up a wicket clean bowled in an over that only conceded 2 singles.
Gunn’s final pair required 30 to win from their 3 overs, a big ask, but as we had 12 players to their 10, their strongest pair were returning to the crease. However, the impetus was now all with Southgate and a good over from Selena was followed up by another from Maddie in which Emma executed a brilliant run out from the boundary, to make the game safe. Yo bowled the final over and confidently held a return catch first ball, making the rest of the over a formality, with Southgate eventually running out winners by 24 runs.
Not our best performance of late, but plenty of positives to take from it, not least of which is gaining experience in how to overcome a difficult period successfully enough to eventually win.
Max Joseph