Match report Women’s 1XI
Odiham Women’s 1XI 3/274 (Guyot 107* Horne 81 Cook 20) def Yatley 1XI 10/35 (James 6/11 Downham 4/23)
Hangover count: 0
Total hangover count: 4
What a beautiful day to be playing cricket! Proper league cricket was back. Green green grass, blue blue sky and the sun shining. It looked like it was going to be a great day. Massive thanks to super coach Paul and his trusty sidekick Corbyn who prepared the pitch for us and to Rob for making very satisfying circles when mowing the outfield. Also thanks to panini queen Knappy for the amazing chicken tikka masala paninis on Tuesday, which were top tier and are top of our rankings. The pitch looked like an absolute road and the grass like a fluffy blanket. As Emily p-h pointed out, the vibes were great. Like the vibes are always good but there was something in the air today. The music was blasting and we actually hit the orange thing a couple times as well!! Becky lost another toss (that’s 3 from 3 so far this season) and we were sent into bat, which is what we wanted to do anyway considering how good the pitch looked.
Hope Horne and myself (Aussie Nat) opened the batting. We were already out in the middle when English Natwanted to get in on the action, asking us who was one and two and then telling us to have fun before sprinting off (as she’s been running everywhere just to show us she can). We started nicely, nothing crazy just ticking it over. Taking the smart singles but nothing silly and running out the extras. The pitch was quite different at each end, with one having very little bounce and the other popping up a little bit. After 10 over we were 0/55 so cruising along. At this point hope was on 36 and I was on 11. I eventually caught up and got to 50 first (nearly getting run out taking a quick single for the 50th run as you can see in the video) and Hope getting hers only a few balls later with a shot that came right out of the middle to backward square. It was Hopes first senior 50 and it was so exciting with lots of yelling coming from the cheer squad on the verandah. At this point we had just taken drinks a couple over before and we were 0/131 off 19 overs with us both on 50. We kept matching each others scores and ticking it along really nicely. With our eye in, we hit the gaps more and even though it was tiering, we started to run even better talking more and turning the ones into 2s or 3s, putting the pressure well and truly on the fielders. We had another drinks break at 26 overs and still had 10 wickets in hand with the score at 0/180. Hope kept saying how cool it was that we were still out there. We then started to accelerate a bit more, taking more singles and trying to find the boundary that kept hiding from us. Hope got an lbw from the low end at 33 overs after an incredible effort and scoring 81. She batted amazingly against girls a lot older and more experienced than her and showed skill and calmness well beyond her years. To bat for so long and stay so composed, playing her shots and running so well, even when she was so tired at such a young age is so impressive. A proper gun in the making (even though she’s already a gun now at 13) and we are all so incredibly proud of her. If we were doing fines, she would have a fine for not buying a jug after the game even though it would’ve been a big jug of squash or something. This brought Sophie in after an opening partnership of 214. Princess Sophia had been sitting there with a worsening pad rash for 33 overs and was literally buzzing to get it. I did warn her about the low bounce but she was too excited and had a big swing at the first ball. Luckily she got away with it. She took no time to get her eye in, belting a couple boundaries right up including the shot of the day with a boundary over cover. I had to have a mini break with 5 overs to go, as I think all the water had been sweated out of me. It looked like I was going to throw up or faint but I didn’t do either. Princess Sophia made me take my helmet and gloves off and Em and Katie ran me a drink like the legends they are. Apparently I was on 97 at this point but I had no idea as I wasn’t paying attention to the score board I was just focused on standing up. Sophie bashed it around a bit more before getting bowled by the same ball as hope for a great cameo of 20 off 16 balls. This brought Becky in with 4 or something overs to go and the score at 2/248 with our target of 250 nearly being past. I then hit a 4 to bring up 101. I got roasted after for not celebrating enough but I didn’t pay attention to the scoreboard and was just trying not to fall over so forgot to do anything. Oops but oh well. We pushed it at the end and Becky got bowled trying to send one into the field and the score was at 3/260 with one and a bit overs to go. Hanna came in and we ended up getting 11 off the last over, pushing the 2s and 3s with Hanna finished 7 off 6. We ended up scoring more than our target and getting 3/274 off 40 overs, something very solid for us to defend against.
Teas. The real reason we all play cricket. Although lots of clubs don’t do teas anymore (we know how devestating that is), Odiham continues to go above and beyond. Queen Gillian Cook (mother of princess Sophia) got the call up last night about doing teas. And she delivered. You know it’s a good tea when there’s two tables worth and enough for us all to have seconds after the game is finished. My personal favourite was the grapes and the cookies, but the other highlights were the lemon drizzle, the cheese sandwiches and the cheese twists. Top tier and we bow down to you Queen Gill.
There’s only one way to describe the bowling innings. And that was class. It was all class. The team was ready, with stomachs full off teas everyone was raging to go. Hanna and Billie showed us what proper and very disciplined bowling was all about. It was line and length. Perfectly textbook bowling. We only needed those two. They sorted it all out for us, with the help of some great fielding all around. Everyone did their bit. Hanna and Billie shared the 10 wickets, with Hanna taking 6 and Billie taking 4. They both worked hard as well, with the first few overs of building the pressure with maidens before the first breakthrough. Hanna took the first two, with catch firing right to Lottie at point who watched it all the way and the other hit down low to me at short cover. Billie then wanted to get in on the fun, with another catch to Lotties safe hands. Hanna got the next with the smoothest caught and bowled I’ve ever seen and Billie bowled the next bat. Hanna got the next two wickets, both bowled and got her 5fa which I don’t think the verandah realised as she did it so quickly they couldn’t keep up. Hanna actually had a dinner to get to and really wanted to wrap up the game quite quickly. Both girls decided they didn’t need the rest of us with the rest of the wickets being LBW or bowled. Such a strong performance with only two bowlers needed but with the standards and pressure set high in the field. Hanna and Billie bowled so well Yatley were 10/35 after 13.4 overs.
Although there were a few big performances and a lot of people would look at the scorecard and say that most of the team didn’t do anything. But that’s far from the truth. It was a team effort. Everyone did their bit, whether it was taking wickets, hitting boundaries, taking their catches, chasing the ball down in the field or being that extra loud voice out in the middle. We were one team and we were so united together. We supported each other, cheered each other on and backed each other all the way. For the first league game, that’s a pretty amazing way to start but regardless of the result we looked like a solid unit. Everyone doing their part in one way or another. And it felt like the dream team. Big things to come this season for the girls and I’m backing us all the way. Let’s keep the momentum going next week, when we are away at aldershot. Yeah the girls!
(Hanna had to run away to dinner and Billie some how managed to avoid the camera so we couldn’t manage to get a photo of them but their haul of 10 wickets between them was absolute quality and amazing bowling!!!)
Panini ranking list:
1. Chicken tikka masala
2. Classic ham and cheese
Teas ranking list:
1. Gill Cook tea
