Girls’ Area Competition gets underway
Friday 12th May 2023
The newly formed Girls’ Area Programme had a fantastic start to their season with matches for the U11’s & U13’s taking place on the last weekend in April. The girls arrived excited to play their first matches after training indoors all winter. This year a total of 120 girls have been part of our Girls’ Area Programme divided into 3 separate areas and 2 age-groups.
Girls’ Area U13 Competition
The U13’s were first up with the East area playing the Kent U12’s and the West area playing the Metropolitan area in two 100 ball games. Some excellent cricket was played with the East and West areas victorious in both matches .
West U13’s v Met U13’s
The West U13’s batted first scoring 86 off of their 100 balls. Daisy Brandon (20), Chloe Littlestone (16) and Lottie Youds (16) scoring the bulk of the runs. Florence Holman (1 for 7 from 15 balls) and Laila Humphries (1 for 5 from 15 balls) were the pick of the bowlers. Met fell 11 runs short with Eleanor Burrows (27) and Grace Savides (16) the top scorers. Lottie Youds (1 for 1 from 10) and Ruby Marriage (1 for 6 from 10) were the most economical of the wicket takers. The second match was a higher scoring and closer contest with the Met scoring 71 off 60 balls and the West chasing it down with a ball to spare.
East U13’s v Kent U12’s
The East U13 side batted first against the county U12’s at Polo Farm. Holly Pattison & Charlotte Slaughter getting them off to a solid start and both retiring. The bowlers generally struggled for consistency but Josie Sharpe and Evie Pulford bowled with good pace and Isobel Jones bowled the only maiden of the innings. The county U12’s never really got going in their innings chasing 151 to win. A top score of 9 and they ended up on 90 at the end of their 100 balls. In the shortened second game of 60 balls the U12’s batted with better intent and improved on their aim of rotating the strike better and scoring singles. The East U13’s chased down 62 to win comfortably with Olivia Dungate-Marsh and Aqsa Kayani batting well and retiring.
Girls’ Area U11 Competition
The U11’s played on the Sunday, with the East area playing the Kent U10’s and the West area playing the Metropolitan area in two 100 ball matches.
West U11’s v Met U11’s
The West batted first and scored 84 from their 100 balls. Emily Julio retired with a quick 23 and Sylvie Brandon held the innings together with 19*. The Met innings got off to a slow start after some excellent bowling. The West bowled with consistency and fielded well to win by 18 runs in the first game. In the second game West scored 71 with Cyra Devlin top scoring towards the end of the innings with some superb running between the wickets that caused chaos for the Met fielders. In a tight finish the Met side fell 3 runs short. Elodie O’Dwyer was named player of the match for the West area after bowling 20 balls for 10 runs and a superb direct hit run out. Mayra Venkataraman was named player of the match for the Met area for some solid batting and 2 wickets, including one excellent off spinning delivery that Kent captain and East Area coach, Megan Belt, would have been proud of.
East U11’s v Kent U10’s
East U11’s batted first against the Kent U10’s and were restricted to 75 from their 100 balls after a tight bowling and fielding display. The Kent Girls then chipped away at the target with Poppy James getting to 25 with a 4 off the last ball of the 18th over to seal the win. Her and Laura Wrigley put on a quick opening partnership of 31 in just 5 overs. In the second game, the Kent girls batted first and scored 71 off their 100 balls for the loss of 5 wickets. Rosalind Jones was the standout batter with 15 not out. The East Girls started badly losing a wicket in the first over but some solid batting and pushing runs hard towards the end of the innings meant a nail-biting finish with East losing by just 2 runs with Alessia Aicardi-Brooker hitting a quick-fire 11 off just 8 balls towards the end to nearly see them home.
A big thank you to the Schools at Somerhill and Radnor House as well as Polo Farm Sports Club for allowing us to get our area season underway when the weather was battling against us. Let’s hope the 100 ball games in round 2 are just as competitive.
If you’d like to find out more about how to get involved in the Girls’ Area Programme please get in touch with the Women’s and Girls’ Pathway Manager, Dave Smith.