Rowledge 123/6 off 40 overs
Radlett 89/9 (all out) off 23.2 overs

A great all-round team performance by Rowledge resulted in victory by 34 runs despite having only 9 players and being desperately short of front-line bowlers.

With a weakened team, Rowledge decided that their best strategy was to bat first, aiming for a score of around 150, ensuring that as few wickets fell as possible to make good use of the full 40 overs, then to hope that their main strike bowlers could skittle out the opposition so that the apprehensive part-time bowlers didn't need to be called upon.

Rowledge got their wish and batted first. On an unpredictable Binsted pitch with a variable wind, batting was always going to be difficult. Openers Pauline Baker and Rachel Hillman batted very patiently against accurate bowling, compiling a solid opening stand of 36 in 17 overs. In an attempt to accelerate the scoring, Rachel hit a drive and called for a quick single. Unfortunately, the ball had hit Pauline, who hesitated, and was run out for 20. Having built a solid foundation, Rowledge changed their batting order to bring in the big hitters. Emily Ingram and Katie Forward put on a partnership of 40 in 10 overs, with some excellent running between the wickets. Katie also hit several great shots in her innings of 31. The lower order batsmen also continued to take quick singles, and Jackie Rice hit a couple of fours, pushing the score past 120, short of the ideal target but defendable in the conditions.

Because Rowledge were short of bowlers, they needed their front-line bowlers to make early inroads into the Radlett batting order. Although Radlett started scoring at 4 runs per over, Rowledge had a couple of early successes, with a wicket for Emily Ingram and a sharp catch by 12-year old Alice Clemson making her debut as wicketkeeper. For a while, things didn't look promising for Rowledge as Cath McNeill started scoring freely in an innings of 40, taking Radlett to 56/2 off 12 overs. However, Katie Forward started to bowl really well, and took 2 wickets in her 3rd over, then got another wicket as Pauline Baker safely took a high catch swirling around in the wind. Katie then took the crucial wicket by bowling Cath McNeill, returning the figures of 4/24 off her 8 overs. This left Radlett apparently in trouble at 61/6, but the opposition were unaware that Rowledge were rapidly running out of bowling firepower. Rachel Hillman came back on for an early second spell and bowled a couple of maidens, but Rowledge began to worry when Radlett were 87/6 after 21 overs, with only 3 overs remaining of front-line Rowledge bowling. Fortunately, Rachel Hillman struck in her penultimate over, with a delivery which defeated the batsmen. This left two Radlett tail-enders to survive two overs of Rowledge's remaining high-quality bowling. Katie Forward beat the bat several times in her last over, but it was just a maiden, then Rachel Hillman came on to bowl her last over. The Radlett batters were unable to cope with Rachel's accurate bowling and an uncertain pitch, and within 3 balls, the two remaining tail-enders spooned easy catches into Rowledge fielders' grateful hands, to give Rowledge victory.


Rowledge points: 12 for win, 3.08 batting points, 6.5 bowling points


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