Cricket Festival

On Tuesday 5th June, Porters Grange were invited to participate in a girl’s cricket festival to help with preparations for the upcoming Borough competition. The festival consisted of playing 4 non-competitive matches in order to understand the rules of the game and practise all of the different skills needed to play cricket.

We started against a reasonably strong Alleyn Court “B” team. We batted first and posted a very respectable 242 (scores start at 200). The girls found bowling very difficult due to it being their first game and we eventually allowed Alleyn Court to score 254 which meant a defeat. The second game saw us fielding first against Chalkwell Hall. Our bowling got better in this game but our fielding still needed to improve. Chalkwell scored a good 255. Our batting innings never really got started and not even quick runs at the end from Lewan could help us over the line. We ended 15 runs short of their total on 240. The third game against Bournemouth Park saw us batting first again but coming up with a “below par” 235. Eliza and Felicity both batted well together but wickets at crucial stages hindered us. Bournemouth Park batted well and ended with 256 despite some excellent bowling performances from all the girls, in particular Annaliese. Our final game came against unbeaten Alleyn Court “A” who had a couple of girls who play for cricket clubs in their side. We batted first and posted a very respectable 257 which included an 8 (no ball and a six!) from Lewan, which led to an individual award at the end of the day. Also, a feat which neither coach Mr Deadman nor umpire from Alleyn Court had ever seen in their cricketing careers. The girls saved their best bowling performance until last, only 2 wides were bowled in the innings, however the strength of Alleyn Court shone through as they scored over 300 thanks to their captain scoring 5 sixes from 6 balls. A special mention to Eliza who took her first wicket and to Georgia, who bowled fantastically despite finding in difficult throughout the day.

So despite not winning any games on the day, I was very proud in the magnificent improvements that the girls made throughout the day in all aspects of cricket. Their bowling improvements were particularly pleasing to see. Both umpires also commented on the excellent behaviour, attitude and sportsmanship shown by Porters throughout the day. It leaves me feeling very optimistic about the Borough competition coming up next week!