Bushy Park Girls Under 13s played their final game of the West Middlesex Girls League season yesterday (16/07/2017) at Old Actonians. With wins against Ealing, Richmond and Wembley already this year this was a chance to preserve their 100% record in the league. It was an entertaining game against an ever improving Old Actonians side who fought valiantly but couldn’t live with the BPG’s match toughness.

Bushy Park Girls won the toss and captain Abi Avery chose to field first. Opening bowler Jess Low struck second ball, pinning the Old A’s opener in front of the stumps, and the umpire’s finger reached for the sky. Simrat Khaira (3-0-15-0) kept it tight at the other end and worked well with her opening partner. Low (2-0-6-2) was at it again in the 3rd over catching her victim with a LBW bullet. Evie Mayhew (3-2-2-3) was the most prolific of the bowlers (wickets), and the most miserly (runs conceded), producing the best spell of her BPG career that included 2 wickets in her first over, a wicket-maiden in her second and a maiden in her third. She truly was on truly sparkling form.

Bushy Park Girls were agile in the field with Chiara Mildon (3-0-20-0) combining with Low and Kerrie-Ann Dcunha to run out two Old Actonian girls. Dcunha’s athleticism also paid dividends when she took two catches behind the wicket. These were no mere edges but confident swipes from the batters and Dcunha bravely threw herself to her left and expertly held on. These two wickets came from the bowling of Georgia Dobson (2-0-5-1) and Isabel Jenner (2-0-7-1) who will be the senior players in the Under 13s next year.

Ella Carran (2-0-13-1) has emerged from the pack in recent weeks. At the start of the season she was nervous about playing in competitive matches but now she looks very much at home at this level. She illustrated this perfectly in the 16th over by bowling the tenth Old Actonian wicket (there were 12 Old As batswomen before you ask). Abi Avery bowled a beautiful final over (1-0-1-0) conceding just one run and Paige Goodwin (2-0-9-0) looked a little tentative while bowling but obviously had her mind on batting. Old Actonians finished their 20 overs on 78 for 10.

In reply Bushy Park Girl batted with a great deal of prowess and strength. Dcunha got her highest ever score for Bushy Park Girls, retiring on 32 not out in the 8th over. While Paige Goodwin also reached a season’s high with 27 not out. It was an action packed 10 over innings that quickly reached the 79 target, every shot was used and the ball hit the boundary in the North, South, East and West. After Dcunha retired the ever faithful Abi Avery steered BPG toward the winning line.

A special mention to Abi Avery, she is the most consistent and skilful of batswomen for the Under 13s and a knowledgeable captain. It is with some fanfare that we can announce she has passed 400 runs this year for 2017. A truly heroic achievement. Credit should go to Paige Goodwin too, she has worked hard to improve all aspects of her game. She has now reached 200+ runs this year for Bushy Park Girls.

Congratulations to all the Bushy Park Girls who have played in the Girls League this season, the team remain unbeaten and can lift the West Middlesex Girls League trophy with a great deal of pride. The girls have the chance to win the overall Middlesex title when they go to the Finals Day in North London on September 3rd. Good luck.

Thank you to Mark and Reshma for umpiring, and Alban, Neil & Emma for scoring. Thanks to Old Actonians for their hospitality.

 

At this time of year we are all a little rusty after the winter break. It is not just the girls who need to refresh their talents, scorers need to remember the arcane symbols they scratch in their scorebooks and umpires the rules of engagement. After a typically early season rule blip, yesterday’s (07/05/2017) Under 11 girls league game against Old Actonians was a closely fought and enjoyable match that Bushy Park Girls won by 10 runs. A curious series of events resulted in a game of three innings, the first 10 overs were batted by Bushy Park Girls, followed by 20 overs for Old As and finished off with a final 10 overs for BPG.

Bushy Park Girls were captained by the talented Ruby Oakley who took a leading role in the match. The BPG batting was solid throughout despite this being the first experience of competitive cricket for some of the girls. Oakley and Hope Jones opened in a steady style, followed by pairs Grace Lyons/Matilda Baker and Lexie Dobson/Annie Stirling who were the backbone of the innings, keeping the scoreboard ticking over. Jessica Spencer hit the only 4 of the BPG innings with her partner Maddie Sloan. With only 9 players in the side the final flourish was left to Holly Ramsden (and the returning Oakley). Bushy Park Girls Under 11 finished on a very creditable 99 for 2, the final ‘Pairs Score’ being 86.

Old Actonians were dogged in their response and also scored 99 runs in their 20 overs. Jessica Spencer bowled well without a wicket while Maddie Sloan bagged a wicket after also performing well in the Lady Taverners tournament last week. Hope Jones waded in with a hefty haul of 3 wickets in her 3 overs and it was her wickets that made the difference as Old Actonians finished on 99 for 4. With 5 runs subtracted for every wicket this left Old As on a ‘Pairs Score’ of 76.

A hard fought win for Bushy Park Girls with special recognition to captain Ruby Oakley for an all-round positive performance. It was not only her bowling (2 overs/1 wicket) but her batting too, that sees her reach more than 100 runs already in the season for Bushy Park Girls. Congratulations Ruby! BPG Stats

Thank you to Old Actonians for hosting us, thanks also to the umpires and Will Stirling for scoring. Well done to all the girls for working so well together as a team.