On Sunday, September 8th, the Girls hardball squad travelled through the morning mizzle to Abingdon Vale for the Oxfordshire Girls Final vs. Goring-on-Thames… Whilst the previous nights thunder storms might have removed the need for alarm clocks, it meant a switch to astro and cold, damp conditions to start. A ‘good toss to lose’ 👍 … batting first…
Starting on 200 (-5 per wicket), Edie and Ava, a fixture at the top of the innings all season got us started against some strong opening bowling. After 4 tough overs, they had battled hard, with some lovely off-side shots, and in-sync running, to keep us at par of 200… Next in Olivia and Jemima C. Steady accumulation, excellent running and no wickets lost, they got us to 220 at half way. It was Fran and Jemima S up next – small in stature maybe, but wow could their little legs scamper. Some ‘opportunistic’ running might have had hearts in mouths on the sidelines, but the girls kept the scoreboard ticking over brilliantly. “All under control” apparently 😬 Alongside some strong shot making the pair got us up to 246 after 12 overs… Last in, to bring our innings home was Chloe T and Maya. Chloe welcoming the large boundaries and slow outfield as “a challenge”, together they set to work. 278 with one ball left (can you declare in pairs cricket 🤔) the Goring bowler finished with a lovely delivery to clip the top of off… 273… a great effort all round and firmly in it at half way!!
Quick team-talk between innings, beautifully fuelled by Jemima C’s custom homemade cookies, and the girls were ready to go… not to be out done by her Goring counterpart, first over, first wicket – beautifully bowled by Chloe. Some further solid bowling from Edie, Ava (can’t separate them when bowling either) and Olivia, with a brilliant direct hit run out from Jemima S, and Goring had made it to 218 after 4… The next pair were welcomed by a copy and paste double from the 2 Jemima’s – back to back overs… spring-backs clattered! Despite this and some more tidy bowling from Maya, Goring continued to chip away, batting nicely… 234 after 8… The third Goring pair and things were getting tense, lots of near misses with the ball, whilst they continued to edge their way up towards our total – cat and mouse before the final pairing… 258 after 12… Knowing Goring had a strong last pair, slightly downbeat, “They only need 15” chat was quickly banished – go out there and enjoy… you’ve got this girls… and didn’t they deliver… for the last 4 overs they ran, chased and supported each other through every ball… producing genuinely 2 of the best pieces of cricket I’ve seen this summer. First, Fran took a superb caught behind from a flashing nick – incredible reflexes. Then in the penultimate over, Olivia took a fantastic leaping catch over her shoulder, at the same time preventing what would have likely been a match defining 4… So to the final over – 10 needed to win – Olivia to bowl (the car journey home was about to quickly go one of two ways 😬). Some good line bowling and great support in the field bought the equation down to 6 from 2… single… 5 from 1… 4 for the tie… despite a great last effort from the Goring batter, causing brief panic stations on the sidelines, Chloe T pulled it back in short of the boundary… Thame win by 2!!! 😅
What a game, what a finish… all credit to the girls, they were all absolutely brilliant. Shout out not only to those that played this match, but to all the girls that have contributed throughout the season. They have all supported and encouraged each other brilliantly along the way in their first venture into hardball cricket!!
Thanks finally also to all the parents for their support – not sure how the nerves held up!! There may have been reports of coach pacing, “doing the hokey-cokey”, on the boundary, but there was no shortage of ooh’s, aaargh’s, shrieks 😉 (and cheers!!) from the pavilion edge also… all in great support of the Girls! Also huge thanks to Charl who the Thame Tigers presented with a Tiger mascot and county winners medal, as she was also a key part of the Friday night training. She was also playing in her final match against Moreton before her flight on Monday back to the land down under. The girls will miss her and hope to see her nest season 🐯
Written by Steve & Vicky Shaw
(L-R – back row) = Jemima C, Olivia, Chloe, Jemima S
(L-R – front row) = Edie, Ava, Fran (+ Maya)
