Actonians Cricket Club

Scorecard

Actonians Cricket Club Under 15's Girls v Eastcote on Thu 09 Jun 2022 at 6.00pm
Actonians Cricket Club Won by 61 runs

Match report Match report – Actonians v Eastcote (under 15 girls) – 9 June 2022

**** Pre-amble ****

After a fortnight out of the saddle, the under 15s returned with a friendly fixture against Eastcote.
There was some behind the scenes drama in the day before the game, when the venue changed twice in less than 12 hours. Thankfully this was all sorted by the evening of the 8th, and we moved into match day looking well placed to have a game of cricket.

The weather forecast had been stable in the previous days and assured us that the game conditions would be overcast but dry. So it was quite unnerving when a steady drizzle knocked on the door about half an hour before ‘kick-off’ and quickly showed signs of making itself at home. Thankfully the featureless rainclouds soon developed into undulating stratus, the rain passed and we were good to go.

Alice and Freya put out the pitch and did a decent job of it, but the Eastcote manager noticed I had set the stumps out on the wrong wicket. The whole boundary had to be shifted 10 yards away from the clubhouse to correct this 'pitch misallocation'.

Both sides had had late dropouts and arrived with 7 players. The team managers agreed to play 8 a side with one player batting twice and fielders rotating as subs for the opposition. The Actonians players made a bid to keep it at 7-a-side, whether due to a desire to maintain the togetherness of the team or because it made batting easier. Either way we ‘agreed’ to play an eight, but to limit to 18 overs because of the light.

Actonians started with Megan (captain in the absence of Riya) Siena, Calla, Maisie, Leah, Alice and Freya. I was the umpire and Tracy Ashby was the scorer. Nic and Marisa provided crowd control. Rather unusually there were virtually no spectators on the patio which, when combined with the close and overcast conditions, gave the evening the feel of a mystery film set in an out-of-season beach resort.

**** The Match ****

Actonians batted with Siena and Maisie opening. Maisie continued her good form and scored quickly at various positions around the wicket. She quickly reached the 25 threshold for retiring with a total of 28 Siena began more cautiously, not hitting her first scoring shot until her 7th delivery. However she opened up and scored five fours before she too retired on 28. Valeria came in at No 3 and went for some big shots and hit one four before her stumps were steepled by a good, straight delivery. At this point we had reached 106 in the 11th over and were in a strong position. Megan and the junior players in the lower part of the order kept the momentum going. Megan hit a couple of fours before being bowled for 10, while Leah continued her good form in the under 13s with a strong 19 not out. Alice came in at six and played some astute shots to end on 12 not out.

The innings closed on 18 overs with Actonians reaching 162. While not an unbeatable total it was a very good one. Eastcote had conceded about 36 in wides (so 18 deliveries), but had otherwise bowled pretty accurately. Less sensible batting on our part could have seen our innings fade away into a two-figure total.

The restart was delayed slightly as the two scorers worked with a focussed determination and attention to detail as they reconciled the sub-totals in their respective scorebooks. Good to see this sort of diligence in action.

In reply Eastcote seem unfazed by the target they had been set and raced to 38 off 4 overs, batting crisply and running smartly as they did so. Our bowling lacked the accuracy needed given that we only had 6 players in the field. At the same time our fielding did its usual jaunt between the energetic and the rather lax, and with three-quarters of the innings till to go our sizeable total was looking under threat. Alice and Freya then bowled two tight overs which slowed the momentum, and in the seventh Alice held a catch at short fine-leg off Leah’s bowling. She had to run slightly to the left and back to hold it and it counted as an very good take, especially given the now-gloomy conditions : it was also (I think) the first outfield catch taken by the under 15s team for nearly a year.

The 5th to the 9th over saw us concede only 16 runs, which took a lot of the tension out of the contest. There was a moment of drama when Siena broke a bail while attempting a quick runout from behind the stumps. Megan got a wicket, and Freya claimed an excellent runout with a direct hit from the mid-off position. Valeria worked energetically in the field, saving a couple of fours with excellent pull-backs just short of the boundary.

Eastcote continued to bat solidly and were eventually to get past 100 in their final over. They finished on a respectable 101 for 3 which meant Actonians had won by 61 runs.

**** In the Final Analysis ****

Overall I would count this as another good performance, but with notable areas for improvement. There were a lot of similarities with the previous game against Shepherds Bush : Eastcote bowled well and knew how to look after their wickets when they were batting. However our batting was effective with some excellent boundaries form Maisie and Siena being complemented by some good momentum in the later overs : the running between the wickets was better than it has been I previous games, with fewer missed opportunities for second runs.

The bowling was variable with a lot of overs consisting of several good balls and a 1-2 wides and no-balls. Just over 10% of our deliveries conceded bowling extras. Likewise the quality of the fielding still needs to be improved. The backing up was generally better than it has been (Freya especially) and there was some good chasing after potential boundaries, but also a number of avoidable misfields which cost us a sizable number of runs. However Valeria worked hard chasing potential boundaries, Alice’s catch was q very good piece of work and Freya’s runout was an super example of turning what looked like an easy run into a wicket.

Today was the first time I have umpired for a year (the last time was against Eastcote funnily enough) and I got a slightly different perspective on the approach in the field. My impression in previous games was that we are way too quiet. However being out in the centre I could hear a lot more encouragement and chatter and general chuntering by the team.

A big thank you - to Tracy Ashby who scored, and to Nic and Marisa who supervised the team. Also a big thanks to Eastcote who were friendly opponents who played in the right spirit.

Well done to Andrea (from the under 10s) who brought in the boundary flaggs, and a shout-out to the team who disappeared quick-sticks when volunteers were requested for the job.

Player of the Match - As with the previous game, this is tricky as everyone put in a shift. Maisie deserves a mention for her third good score in succession, Alice for her catch and Freya for her runout. Siena won praise from the Eastcote manager/umpire for her wicket-keeping. However I am going to go for Leah Basu-Roy who bowled economically, got a wicket and scored a very solid 19 runs. Well done Leah.

Next games –
Sunday 12th June (10.00am) against Harrow at Actonians.
Friday 17th June (6.00pm) cup game against Beaconsfield at Actonians.


Actonians Cricket Club Under 15's Girls Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
15nb 36w 8b  
for 4 wickets
59
162		        
Siena Tracey Retired Not Out  28 22 5 127.27
Maisie Moxon Retired Not Out  28 19 2 147.37
Valeria Barrocas La Femina Bowled  6 6 1 100
Leah Basu Roy Retired Not Out  19 23 82.61
Megan Cripps-Juster Bowled  10 11 90.91
Alice Stone Not Out  12 12 100 1
Freya Cornish   1
A.N. Other  
A.N. Other  

Eastcote Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Antara3.0017117.005.67
Mary2.002700.0013.50
Isha4.002600.006.50
Mahi4.0034134.008.50
Sahanna1.001700.0017.00
Abigail4.003300.008.25

Eastcote Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
8nb 40w 1b 1lb 
for 3 wickets
50
101 (18.0 overs)		     
Isha ct Alice Bld Leah 21
Abigail b Megan 4
Aniya run out Freya 12
Mary Not Out  9
Antara Not Out  5
   
   
   
   

Actonians Cricket Club Under 15's Girls Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Megan Cripps-Juster3.0112112.004.00
Leah Basu Roy3.0112112.004.00
Valeria Barrocas La Femina3.001900.006.33
Maisie Moxon3.002500.008.33
Alice Stone3.001200.004.00
Freya Cornish3.001700.005.67