13th May   Shepperton / Dukesmead     Friendly 

Two oppositions in an afternoon – what’s going on? Shepperton having three sides had made fixtures against both us and Dukesmead, however, when push came to shove, they could only muster 7. Dukesmead had 8; we had 12. We decided to play a little tournament – plenty of running around for our ever enthusiastic youngsters. 

Shepperton were our first opponents. Sarah Bartlet was asked to share the new ball with Binaisha Shah, who was making her Gunns. debut. Both bowled some good balls – Binaisha taking an over or so to get her rhythm, but Caroline Atkins looked like she’d been batting on slow wickets for the last 6 months, rather than hard, fast net surfaces. Punishing the bad ball, but finding Binaisha a little frustrating, she was looking to start rotating the strike, when she took a quick single to short cover. If ever proof was needed that the more you practice, the better you get, Hanah Rea swooped in to comfortably run out Jules Tetley. 

Aashraya Shankar, also making her Gunns debut, was brought on first change from the allotment end. She bowled a disciplined line and length, showing just what a useful acquisition she will be this season. Together with Hanah, the pair (both of them still U15’s), managed to bowl tightly enough to force Shepperton to make mistakes. Beth Morgan showing the  benefit of having a safe pair of hands, pocketing two at mid off, to give Hanah her first Gunns wickets. What really impressed was the fact that even when Atkins decided to take the attack to them, neither of the youngsters dropped their heads – sticking to line and length. As was pointed out to them, they will not face a better bat this season, and the experience will be invaluable for the coming months. In the end, Shepperton reached 108. 

In reply, Chander Kaul walked out with Helena ‘H’ Stolle. A combination of youth and experience – H could ask for no better a batting mentor. The pair played themselves in, keeping the score board ticking, but always slightly behind the run rate. We had lent Shepperton Laura Gardiner and she caused all sorts of problems for both bats – she is improving all the time and looks an exciting prospect. 

With half the overs gone, H decided to start chipping the infield, to great effect, as Chander started to go on the offensive. With three and a half overs to go, H departed and Keely Juster walked out to the middle, with 49 runs required. Some nicely timed 4’s (due mostly to the quality of the bat – all Beth’s hours of work over the winter, enabling Keely to look good!!), and some big hitting from Chander, all came to no avail, as we fell 20 short. 

Dukesmead were our next opponents. Emily ‘PA’ Jones opened the batting with Hanah, and the pair of them made light work of some ordinary bowling. Hanah in particular, showing a lot of power in her on drives. The dismissal of PA, saw Kam walk to the middle (our third debutant). A little rusty, after not playing for 4 years, she was soon back in the groove, with some lovely straight drives, and seemed to be enjoying herself. Aashraya came out to join her, and the pair demonstrated some good running between the wickets, to take our score to 94. 

In reply, Dukesmead struggled. Both Binaisha and Aashraya, bowling with growing confidence caused all sorts of problems. Kam and Laura showed great control, and the ever green Cathy Mowat definetly not making her debut), turned her arm over for the first time this season, to great effect. Even H popped up to take her first Gunns wicket – not bad for a keeper! Dukesmead fell 66 runs short – a very encouraging performance for Gunns, and one that hopefully bodes well for the coming games.