Under 11 rounders v loretto
Belhaven - 6.5 Loretto - 5
The first game of the season is always filled with nerves and uncertainty. After a few weeks of relentless fielding practice and batting it was time for the girls to show what they were made of.
After losing the toss we were put into bat and nerves were to the forefront as it took us until the eighteenth ball to score anything. Emilia White put us on the score sheet with a half rounder followed by Matilda Laird and Jemima Black each scoring a half. One and a half rounders was not a great total for batting and the girls knew that they were going to have to field well to keep Loretto within touching distance.
Second ball in and Loretto already had their first rounder scored - not the best of starts for us. However, rather than let Loretto walk all over us, the girls put on a fantastic display of fielding as one by one the Loretto girls were either stumped or caught out. Rosie Barnes and Mercedes Bannister stopped some Loretto girls in their tracks at 1st post, Cassie Roberts took great catches looming at 4th post, Jemima Black kept her cool at 2nd keeping the half rounders at bay and Izzy Baillie on 3rd post took a perfect throw from Polly Armstrong-Wilson at third deep to put another Loretto girl out and stop what looked like a certain rounder. Loretto had one very good hitter in their team and once she was identified, Matilda Laird and Julia Tyndall were not going to let her have her way. After 23 balls the Loretto team were all out with Emilia White being a very solid bowler as she gave Loretto no advantage with no balls. At the end of the first innings it was all square as both teams were nervously poised on one and a half rounders each.
The second innings saw us slighty more relaxed with our batting. Jemima Black got us off to a good start scoring a rounder with ball number three. Mercedes Bannister, Polly Armstrong-Wilson and Emilia White helped to keep our rounders ticking over and at the end of the innings we had scored five rounders to add to our total.
Loretto's second innings was tense. Nothing happened for the first nine balls. Eventually ball ten gave us our first victim with a quick catch from Cassie Roberts. However, Loretto answered back by scoring a rounder as we momentarily panicked in the field. For the last ten balls the advantage was swinging back and forth. As we would get a Loretto girl out, they would score a cheeky half rounder. With three balls remaining the pressure was on Mercedes Bannister at second post to keep her cool as the Loretto girls were going for everything. She rose to the challenge and stumped out each Loretto girl who dared to come near.
Loretto scored three and a half rounders giving them a final total of five therefore making us victorious on six and a half rounders.
In regard to fielding the girls rose to the challenges that they were presented with, in regard to batting we need a little more self-belief.
Man of the Match: Cassie Roberts
Rounders scored: Jemima Black - 2
Emilia White - 2
Polly Armstrong-Wilson - 0.5
Mercedes Bannister - 0.5
Matilda Laird - 0.5 | 
