On the 24th May, the U13 Indoor cricket team participated in the Indoor National Cricket Finals at the home of cricket, Lords. Here they faced winners from other regions of the UK.

After team photos and briefings, we started the tournament facing Millfield. Opting to field first, nerves took hold which unfortunately cost some valuable runs. Millfield scored 119/7, with Wakefield Girls’ needing a good batting display to overturn the score.  Amber Barker took the game to Millfield in the last over, against their best bowler, adding an impressive 29 to the total, we finished on 96 all out.

An opportunity to regroup and go again in the next game against Stamford. We fielded first and Navya Gutta had an awesome first over, only conceding 3 runs. This gave our team a much needed boost and we went on to keep Stamford’s score under 100 on 96. Navya and Addi opened the batting and got some runs on the board to keep Wakefield Girls’ ticking over. It was a great effort, but unfortunately Wakefield fell short by an agonising 7 runs.

A break in play for lunch and a tour of Lords followed. The team got to visit the museum where the ashes are kept, the long room, and the changing rooms, witnessing the home of cricket from spectacular vantage points and reliving the history of some spectacular moments in the game!

After the break, we began our next game in positive spirits against St Helen and St Katherine. A change of tactic saw Wakefield Girls’ bat first. Some great bowling saw limited chances however our team worked well and took their chances to reach a score of 92, meaning St Helen and St Katherine needed 93 to win.  We gave up some early runs, before the bowlers got into their groove, with Libby, Annabel, Blythe, Bea and Navya all taking valuable wickets. St Helen and St Katherine surpassed our score in the last over, but it was very close, with Wakefield only losing by 10. 

Our last game of the day was against West Hill Park. Wakefield chose to bat first and an excellent display from captain Libby Cree saw Wakefield Girls’ set a score of 101. Again it was a tight game, with Navya taking 2 wickets in the last over, but West Hill reached 113.

Some exciting statistics for the day: Wakefield Girls’ were the second highest run scorers of the day, with 373, with only overall winners Millfield finishing with more. Retirees: Addi (1), Navya (1) and Libby (2)- an excellent effort from all! Tournament players of the day, who were awarded the match balls went to Libby Cree and Addi Bruce for the stability they offered the team both batting and fielding throughout the day.

Overall, the team enjoyed their day and came so close in every game. As a department, we are very proud of their accomplishments and with some more training and friendlies in pre-season we are confident that they will be even more successful in next year’s campaign!

Mrs Margereson

Teacher of PE

Captain Libby Cree shared her reflections:

At the beginning of this cricket season I think it’s safe to say none of us would expect to be travelling to London for the indoor national finals. Throughout the season we have all gained confidence and skills to improve our game from playing the easier sides to the close and much more closely matched games. As captain I have noticed a huge improvement from everyone on the team with 2 new additions half way through the season who have adapted excellently to how we play. We progressed through multiple rounds, the West Yorkshire round, the Yorkshire round, the northern round winning them all because of our outstaying teamwork and talented players on the team. At national finals, we came 2nd in terms of runs scored and 5th overall which was an incredible result that we should all be very proud of. I think it is safe to say everyone on the team took a lot away from the national finals from the team building in the hotel to the encouraging from the side-lines in tough situations keeping us all going. This season has been a great opportunity for a lot of us to play a sport we had never experienced before therefore in the time that we have had to develop I believe everyone had done a great job at recognising their weaknesses to be willing to improve. It has also been lovely to see both the year 7’s and 8’s on the team gain a friendship with each other and it’s safe to say we were the loudest team at Lords.