With Enfield only able to find 5 players, Southgate's women's team hosted them for a 6 a side friendly match, with our own Megan Gibbs making up Enfield’s 6. Captain Emma Dangerfield won the toss and chose to bat on a muggy day at The Walker Ground.
Devki Shah and Soph Meyer opened the batting for the home team and Soph got Southgate off to a flying start, dispatching 3 fours and a two in the opening over. Devki took on the charge in the second over adding a further 7 runs, but 5 were wiped out when Soph hit a spiralling catch to Megan! Enfield’s opening bowlers found their rhythm in their second overs, but Soph and Devki rotated strike well, and finished their 4 overs on 36-1.
Emma and Shikhaa Gupta were up next and a combination of good running, powerful hitting from Emma and some extras from Enfield’s newest bowler saw them add 39 runs without loss from their 4 overs. Fran Fell and Piumi Bandara closed our innings and continued the momentum with a whopping 6 fours from Fran! Piumi played a perfect supporting role, running aggressively and rotating strike well. A run out ensued when the pair ambitiously tried to turn a 1 into a 2 – not a dismissal I mind seeing at all – and two other unlucky wickets meant the pair added 38 runs for 3 and Southgate had set Enfield 94 runs to win in 12 overs.
Devki took the ball for the first over and nearly completed a maiden; a single from her final ball was the only run conceded. Soph’s first over was almost as miserly with just the 2 runs for a wide given up. Devki and Soph also bowled overs 3 and 4 and continued to subdue Enfield’s openers and fittingly combined for our first wicket as Soph induced an aerial shot and the catch was well taken by Devki.
Piumi and Shikhaa bowled the middle 4 overs and had to contend with Enfield’s strongest batter, their captain Abbie. They contended with her well, assisted by good fielding from the whole team who had to cover more ground than usual with only 6 on the ground. When two wickets fell in Piumi’s second over, the first a well taken catch from Soph followed by a runout the very next ball, the contest was all but over.
Fran and Emma closed out the match with 2 overs a piece, each demonstrating great skill and control. Megan batted in this pair and connected with one of Emma’s deliveries, sending it to the wider men’s boundary like a tracer bullet! However, Emma had the last laugh bowling Megan in the final over of the match!
Enfield finished on 261 (81-4) so Southgate wrapped up a 33 run victory. In the process, we are now uncatchable at the top of the East division and will compete in the final against the winners of the West division for the title of Middlesex’s softball cricket champions!
Max Joseph