Match report vs Ropley (T20 cup game ) by Nat Guyot
Cricket is back!! We were all very doubtful on Saturday afternoon whether it would be on it not considering the continuous rain. This may have accounted for how many hangovers there were but the first game of cricket for the year was actually on!! After we all partied the night away at Emily p-h’s 18th (happy birthday ems so happy you’re still alive) we were back out into the field for a T20 cup game vs ropley played at chawton. Match reports are obviously back on and this one’s getting written in an airport (massive thank you to knappy (chris) and knappy (Henry) for driving me to the airport at 4am this morning literal legends). After being surrounded by scary grey clouds all morning the rain had stayed away and we managed to get on. Becky obviously hasn’t been practising her coin toss calling over winter as she lost the first one back (only way to go is up from here!!) and we were sent into bat.
With English Nat out injured with a pirate leg (dodgy knee) for the start of the season, back Nat (Sophie Karen (KAZZA) cook) and myself (Nat) we’re sent out into the middle. English Nat has turned into a scoring eztraordinare, with perfect drawn wagon wheels and very neat writing. Tbh we started kinda slow and struggled with the really slow and dead pitch early on. To make it even harder, the grass was thick and damp so the ball wasn’t even running so we weren’t really running either. We kept it ticking along, seeing off both openers. Sophie was decisively back up when I hit it right to the fielder. In a split second the fielder at cover picked up the ball and threw it to the bowlers end, running out kazza even though we hadn’t even gone for a run. This brought Becky in. Becky was in right away as there was no time to waste, with the running between wickets picking up right away with lots of 2s. She hit a lovely perfectly timed 6 in her second over out there. The next ball decided she would do the same but this time she was aiming for the sheep in the field next to us and this one went a lot further. Becky’s back to back 6s really helped us get back on track. Pushing the runs and hitting the gaps worked in our favour as the total kept growing. A couple shots that stopped just short of the boundary meant that we had to run most of the runs. I got bowled with a couple over to go bringing Billie in. Together Billie and Becky finished it off, with Becky batting amazingly for a great 47* (mega jug avoidance first game back) and Billie was a nicely made 7*. We finished our innings 2/107 off the 20 overs, a solid total to defend on a very slow outfield.
A quick turn around and we were back out into the field to bowl. Billie opened the bowling and decided to lure the batters into a false sense of security by bowling two wides to start off with then bowling a beautiful ball that swung for an lbw. Madeline came on from the other end with the ball swinging around everywhere like a jazz band. Madeline had an impact right away, with a lovely catch to the birthday girl. Dorothy (em) came onto bowl and decided it was her day to take some wickets. The hangover slowly wearing off, three wickets were taken. One a very regulation and safe catch to Kaitlyn and mid on, the next being bowled and lastly a great diving catch to her left side for an impressive caught and bowled. At one point when she was readjusting the bails, Lottie threw the ball back and accidentally hitting her right in the forehead. Thankfully she was already a bit out of it and dazed from a big night the night before she didn’t really realise what hit her until what felt like a few minutes later when she looked up and said ow. She was fine but her head might be a bit sore for a couple more days now. Liv was doing some great keeping behind the stumps, with lots of chances and great stops (minus the NB from having her hands in front but we can easily forgive her as she was just an eager beaver to catch the ball). Billie got a bit lost in the field a few times, needing a map to find her way and singing the Dora song to help her. Hope came onto bowl with some new spin bowling and thanks to Liv’s speedy hands got a nice stumping and ropley were 7/46. Lottie and charlotte both bowled some good areas and kept the score low. On a free hit, hope picked up the ball with a speedy throw in and charlotte fielded it near the stumps and then decided not to take the bails even though the batter definetly would’ve been out by at least a metre and a bit (she was just being nice and wanted to give them a second chance). Sophie also forgot what sport she was playing and decided to throw the ball across the floor instead of in the air to get it back to the bowler. Becky had a tight spell and made sure we didn’t go too much over time, getting through it quickly with minimal runs scored against her. We finished the 20 overs with ropley 9/65. We were a bit too generous with the extras in our bowling innings, as we decided to score half of the runs for them with a grand total of 35 extras. We fielded well as a team and took our catches.
What a good day to be playing cricket and nice to have a win first game back. With lots of positive to take from the first game as well as lots to work on at training this week, we are all looking forward to the season starting even more now and for cricket to get properly going again. Not much longer now !!!! Bring on the summer!!!
