Kent Under 11 Girls v Castle Hill Boys (Home) at Castle Hill Cricket Club on 3rd July 2010

Castle Hill Boys 122-6 (25 overs) (Rochelle Beeson 2-9, Izzy Cloke 2-12)
Kent Under 11 Girls  103-6 (25 Overs) (Molly Davis 28 ret not out, Maddie Hughes 16)

Run outs (2):    Maddie Hughes, Izzy Cloke    Catches: None.
Result:  Kent Under 11 Girls Lost by 19 Runs

Although this was Kent Under 11 Girls second loss in a row, it was certainly no disgrace, as they came up against a few Tunbridge Wells district players drafted into strengthen the Castle Hill side.  It ended up being a very good match and the Kent girls learnt a lot from the experience.

As we had not chased before, we decided to put the boys in.  We got off to a good start with Rocky getting their opener LBW in the first over.

Although as a team we bowled quite well, we had to wait until the 20th over before taking the next one.  In between, the boys showed the girls how to be patient and build an innings.  We were lucky they did not take any risks running between wickets.  Had they done so, they would have scored more runs.  However, it was good to watch the boys play each ball on it merit, compared to far too many of our girls, who often play the same shot to what ever ball they receive.

In the latter stages the boys did take risks with their running and the pressure it created made our ground fielding look poor and slow.  Admittedly, the outfield at Castle Hill is unforgiving and demands good long barriers and watching the ball into the hands, but frequently we did not perform the basics well.

We did get amongst the wickets towards the end.  We took three wickets in three balls, with Izzy on a hat trick.  Unfortunately, like Ella last week, she could not convert it into three in three.

Once again, far too many wides, but there were plusses – Stella’s captaincy was excellent, with lots of encouragement, and field placings on the whole good, though she often did not have a mid on.  She also bowled one over of accurate, well flighted off spin, but unfortunately her fielders did not support her.

Nine year old Molly kept for the entire innings.  It was a tremendous effort, a task made harder with many awful throws to her.

The heat got to some of the girls and so we had to make a few changes to the batting order.  This did not help our cause and we made the worse possible start against some rapid bowling.  Charlotte had her stumps trimmed in the first over, and then Annabelle uncharacteristically swung across a straight one in the second over.  Elodie looked good for a bit but then for no reason missed a straight one.  

Rocky and Izzy steadied things and they were going well until Izzy failed to respond to Rocky’s perfectly good call to a hit over the bowlers head.  Rocky, having run all the way to the bowlers end where Izzy had not moved, could not beat the throw back to the batting end and was unfortunately run out.

Izzy was affected by this and played a rash stroke to get herself out.  The good thing was that the two girls were seen later still on talking term!

Molly, who was due to open but was rested because she had kept earlier, was then joined by Maddie.  They faced lesser bowling, nevertheless, together they put on an splendid 55 run partnership, the highest this season.

Mollie retired not out on 28.  This was an outstanding knock and we should all take a lesson from watching her bat with skill and maturity that belies her age.  She was supported by Maddie, with some mighty powerful hits to leg.  There is no doubt that if she can develop her straight and off side play, she will be a real force in the future.

In spite of the good partnership, we were not in with a real chance of reaching the boys total.  The main aim was to give everyone some experience at the wicket.   Getting bat on ball and running straight away was called for.  It worked to some extent.  Stella and Ella batted well for a few overs until they were retired, and then Sophia and Georgia also did the same, with Sophia in particular showing good awareness and urgency.

All in all, it was a very good exercise.  There is still plenty of room for improvement, but on the whole progress is being made.  Well done.