Bushy Park Girls started their summer season campaign with a thrilling win against Ealing CC yesterday. In an entertaining friendly against their rivals the combined BPG team of Under 13s and Under 15s won the match in the final over at Popesfield, Ealing.

On this fresh and blustery April evening Bushy Park Girls won the toss and captain Abigail Avery chose to bat. The BPG batswomen were largely untroubled in their 17 over innings with many of the girls retiring to let others take a turn at the crease. In fact it wasn’t until the 16th over that Bushy Park Girls lost their first wicket. Openers Avery (20*) and Paige Goodwin (8*) made hay while the sun shone (temporarily) with Evie Davies (6*) and Imogen Higgins (8*) coming in next. All of them hitting the boundary rope with some powerful strokes. Pinch hitters Edie Proud (5*) and Jessamy Low (5*) came in for a quick fire cameo. Proud also cracking the boundary while Low accumulated entirely in singles. The final overs were left to Iris Saunders who resolutely steered her three partners, Sophia Stapleton-Parslow, Alice Harvey and Erin Goodwin (6*) to a total of 83 for 2.

Although the Bushy Park Girls side was predominately Under 14 in age the team welcomed three excellent cricketers who have just graduated to the Under 13s team this year. All three bowled brilliantly and must be very proud of the contribution they made to the match. Goodwin E. (2 overs/0 maidens/8 runs/1 wicket) opened the bowling and got the prize wicket of the Ealing opener in her first over. Stapleton-Parslow (2/0/10/0) was second change bowler and she kept her nerve against a fiery Ealing attack. Ruby Oakley (2/0/3/1) was the pick of the Bushy Park bowlers as dusk started to settle. She bagged her first wicket of the season and her spell yielded just 3 runs.

Of the older cohort Low (2/0/12/0) opened alongside Goodwin (E), taking a little time to settle, her second over showing her class. Davies (2/0/13/0) just missed out on an excellent caught and bowled. Proud (2/0/13/1) bowled well and enticed the Ealing No.4 batter into a rash shot, which Low caught at Mid Off. No one was as stylish as Harvey (1/0/7/0) as she ran up to the crease. Saunders (2/0/8/1) has a knack of taking wickets and once again she didn’t disappoint when she bowled the Ealing tailender with the last ball of her spell.

It was left to the skill of  BPG captain Avery (2/0/3/2) to decide the match with a textbook display of death bowling. With Ealing needing 5 runs to win from the last over Avery steamed in and fired out 2 Ealing batters with her accurate bowling. Higgins added to a tense finale by engineering a fine run out and it was Bushy Park Girls who won the match by just 2 runs. A big thank you to the wonderful Paige Goodwin who kept wicket with aplomb. She really is a versatile cricketer and a great asset to the Hertfordshire County team.

Congratulations to both Bushy Park Girls and Ealing who played the game in an excellent spirit. Thank you to James and Mark for umpiring, to Joe, Nimesh and Alban for scoring. Lastly to all the parents who braved the rush hour traffic to get the girls to the match on time.

Current 2018 BPG Stats and averages can be viewed here.