Kent Under 11 Girls  70-7 (25 Overs) (Stella Gowans 12 not out)

Leeds and Broomfield Boys 60-8 (25 overs) (Georgia Moore 2-3, Lizzie Neal 1-1)

Run outs (1):    Poppy Smith       
Catches (2)    Charlotte Henderson, Grace Whitelock

Result:  Kent Under 11 Girls  Won by 10 Runs

The last competitive match of the 2010 season against external opponents proved to be yet another exciting encounter against boys.  This time it was Leeds and Broomfield.  The game was a low scoring affair because wet weather in the week had made the pitch like a pudding and difficult for under 11s to get the ball away.  Still, low scoring games are often close and so it proved. 

We won the toss and elected to bat with our order selected by captain Stella and Lizzie.  Leeds were one short so we lent them Joey Clifton, Ella’s younger brother, which was not a good move as he turned out to be their best player and he almost won the game for them!

Izzy hit a lovely shot through the covers but then poked up a catch to Joey at cover.  Charlotte was finding the middle of the bat as she played herself in nicely but then overbalanced and trod on her stumps trying to get one away on the leg side.  Rocky had hung about well from the start but was then run out by Lizzie.  Lizzie went the same way as Izzy offering Joey another catch.

Everyone seemed worried at drinks as we had crawled along at only two runs an over.  Things did not get much better immediately after.  Maddie played herself in but was then well caught and bowled when she tried to open up.  A metre either side and her drive would have gone past.  Molly missed a high full toss and was hurt.  She retired.  Ella, playing unusually straight, got off the mark quickly, and hung around for a while.  She was retired on 7 not out. 

At 17 overs we only had 40 runs on the board, however, thanks to some good work from Elodie and later from Stella (who hit the only 4 in our innings) and Poppy (excellent tip and run), and a lot of wides from the boys, we added 30 in the last 8 overs to finish with a respectable 70.

We took the field in a positive manner knowing that our bowling was capable of defending a low total.  Although we bowled accurately at the start, the boys looked solid, and picked up comfortable singles because our field placings were a little too deep.  The boys had scored 15 by eight overs and it was difficult to see where we were going to get a wicket. 

Then the breakthrough came when Charlotte took a good catch at square leg off Georgia.  Georgia bowled the other opener next ball and was on a hat trick for the second time this season.  Unfortunately, it was not to be, but it was the turning point of the game.  We continued to bowl well, wickets were taken regularly and the boys fell behind the run rate.  They only had 30 runs after 15 overs.

However, the boys rallied and started scoring at four an over and by the time we reached 20 overs they were on 50 runs.  It was building to a good finish.

Our opening bowlers were brought back but runs continued to flow with only 13 needed to win off the final over from Rocky.  Only three runs came and we had won by ten.

It was a good way to finish the season.

The next cricket is the final gathering for the whole squad and their families at the barbecue at Willesborough Cricket Club on Sunday 5th September when Stella’s team takes on Lizzie’s team.