Our U13’s travelled to Bolton to take part in the Lady Taverners Indoor Cricket competition, regional round on Wednesday 27th April.

Our team were put into Group 2 with 2 other county winners, Cheadle Hulme (Lancashire) and Darland (North Wales). Our first game was against Darland. A great bowling performance restricted the opposition to 43 and our batting score of 136 with 2 retirees gave us a confident, winning start to the competition. 

The second group game saw us pitted against a very organised Cheadle Hulme side. A closer game but still we came away victorious scoring 125 runs against their 98. An amazing bowling performance by Libby Cree taking 3 wickets for 8 runs in her first over backed up by Navya Gutta taking 3 wickets for 15 runs across her 2 overs.

With 1 team missing from our group we played the same 2 teams again and built on our batting success scoring 97 against Darland and 160 against Cheale Hulme. The team started to really pull together and worked hard for each other stopping extra runs and over throws in the field as well as taking calculated risks to score crucial runs when batting.

We went through to the Semi Finals as winners of our group and faced Ovingham for a place in the final. A tougher outfit all round, the game was set to be a nail-biter. Some excellent bowling from Ovingham put pressure on our batters losing a quick wicket in the first over the group fought and ran well to score 95 runs in their innings with. Another outstanding bowling performance from the whole team saw Ovingham losing 2 wickets in the first over weakening their batting side and resulting in a score of 57.

Jubilant we moved on to the final to face Repton knowing again they would be tough opposition. With some big hitters amongst their batting team, Repton scored quickly moving up to 50 runs in only 4 overs but a sterling 6th over saw them lose 3 wickets in succession and their innings finished with them scoring 91 runs. With a cautious start to our batting innings we kept out wickets in hand but were slow to pick up the runs. Things started to move into the final overs of the game and we came away worthy winners scoring 111 in the final game.

What a team effort with all players showing true grit and determination in their bowling, fielding and batting performances. Navya Gutta retired in all but 1 game demonstrating her talent and exceptional skill in batting. Addi Bruce kept a cool head in the middle innings reading the game superbly and scoring vital runs when needed. Libby Cree led the team as Captain with confidence and outstanding skill with both the bat and the ball. Bea Tootill and Blythe Stancliffe made huge improvements in the consistency of their bowling, limiting the opposition to single figure runs, especially in the Semi Finals. The change in pace that Annabel Massey brought to the bowling attack slowed down the scoring and in 1 over she bowled 6 dot balls and took a wicket! Izzy Bott, Amber Barker, Maya Aziz and Tilly Bowser showed solidarity and agility within the field, supporting our bowlers with quick decisions and a determination to stop the opposition from scoring.

An outstanding team performance bringing together a range of cricket experience and skills to progress on as Regional winners to the National Finals at Lord’s. Well done girls.

Mrs Margereson

Teacher of PE