With some rather tough matches ahead of us in our pool, the girls played with skill and accuracy in their first match against Cargilfield. Half rounders from Trea, Daisy, Ness and Emily were soon followed by rounders off great hits from Lydia D and Katya. With just threee of the team out within the 8 minutes, a score of 6 rounders was the score to beat. Cargfield took a long time to start scoring. Great teamwork between Franny and Lydia D at first post, catches from Kitty and Katya and fast passes between at second and third post saw many of the Cargilfield players soon out. Belhaven managed to get the whole team out, but unfortunately the half rounders added up by Cargilfield and Cargilfield managed a half rounder win over us – much to the amazement from everyone.
The second match against Aberlour, was a little easier –again great tight fielding, super catches from Ness, Iona and Daisy and with quick passing between the posts saw many of the Aberlour girls out at the different posts. As the Belhaven girls went into bat, the Aberlour girls fielded hard and caught out Daisy, Lydia and Claudia on their first bat. The other Belhaven girls began to panic a little but it did not stop them from concentrating hard on the innings and as a result they all raised their standard of play. With the rest of the girls batting hard and scoring, Franny, Grace, Ness and Iona shone this innings scoring highly from their hits.
Two matches down and with Mr Osborne now on the sidelines watching, the girls knew they could not crumble under the pressure from the big strong players from Kilgraston. Finding the bowling incredibly difficult to hit any good balls from, the scoring started off slowly with the players staying safe. The girls had to take half rounders when they could and with a few risks from Daisy, Grace and Katya, some whole rounders boosted the score to finish on 6 rounders. The Belhaven fielding had to be tight and Claudia began with an excellent catch off the first ball. Another great catch from Katya and quick work at first post saw two more players out. A few fumbles in the field gave away some half rounders towards the end and as before these proved to be vital in the final score, allowing Kilgraston to win by half a rounder.
Our final match of the pools was against Ardvreck. With the girls having socialised with the Adrvreck girls before the match, they now needed to focus on playing to win this match. Batting again first, Kitty took a risk from a great hit but was stumped out at second post. Half rounders from Trea, Ness, Emily and Daisy began to add up and constant batting to the deep field by Lydia and Katya secured whole rounders. With 7 and a half rounders behind them, Ardvreck ‘s first two batters were out (caught by Trea and stumped at first post). Great backstop work by Franny caught out two more players. Despite a few missed balls in deep field, the girls remained focused and tried their hardest to stop the scores. A tense few moments as the scores were added up and again there was just half a rounder between the teams – with Belhaven gaining the extra half this time!
Well done girls – some difficult matches for you today but I think you played hard and rose to the challenge when playing different teams, raising the standard of your game when you needed. We now need to tidy up some of the fielding and look forward to our next matches.
Mrs G
