A lovely setting for the Final at Knebworth yesterday but unfortunately we came up against the best team in the league on top form and had a heavy defeat - it was a great achievement to make the Final and the girls ended the day in good spirits and will have learnt a lot from the occasion so hopefully it will keep them motivated to come back next year in u11’s/u13’s and to keep developing and enjoying their cricket.

St Albans were put into bat after captain Sophia won the toss however our bowling and fielding was not at its best on the day and St Albans had very good batters who moved the ball all round the field and seized on anything that could be hit. Tring did take two wickets with a lovely catch by the boundary from Sophia (off Mia’s bowling) and an equally great catch from Eva out deep (off Sophias bowling). It looked like a 3rd wicket had been taken when a ball spun back off the bat and knocked a bail off but the umpire didn’t see it so it wasn’t given – in the end it wouldn’t have made any difference. I think a learning point for the girls for next year is to remember to get body/feet/anything! behind the ball as quite a few runs given away with balls going under or through hands. In the end, St Albans posted an imposing 332/2 giving Tring a 333 target.

St Albans then bowled really well with the balls pitched up close to the batters making it really hard for our girls to score from and having been told to go for it as we needed boundaries it did mean a lot of catches occurred. We did lose quite a few wickets early on so the result wasn’t really in doubt but to their credit all the girls kept trying to score and take runs where possible. Well done to Orla and Ramona who were the only pair not to get out on the day and some brave batting at the end against two County bowlers from Sophia and Eva helped get the score more respectable but Tring finished someway short on 246/8.

So a disappointing result but sometimes you have to accept the better team deserved it and it was lovely to see our girls quickly recover their high spirits and accept defeat graciously.

Overall we have had a really great season with only St Albans A and Abbots beating us and all of our girls continuing to improve in all areas with a fantastic team spirit. I have stats for each girl on runs/wickets/catches/outs/4’s etc so if you want them let me know.

Over the season, we took 49 wickets incl 11 run outs compared to 42 & 10 last year. We took 24 catches compared to 14 last year. We were out 24 times compared to 34 last year. Just a bit down on batting with 587 runs scored incl 74 ‘4’s and 4 ‘6’s vs 663 runs last year incl 91 ‘4’s and 3 ‘6’s. So improvement in most areas!

Training continues up to and including Sat 26th August

Awards night when we should be having our usual Parents vs Girls cricket match is still not confirmed but likely to be either Friday 8th or sat 9th Sep – I’ll confirm as soon as its definite.

Thanks very much and enjoy the summer!

Barrie