3rd June   Twickenham Riverside     Friendly 

Flaming June!! At last, we all cry – after the wettest drought on record, for the month of May, we were greeted by blue skies and a very pleasant visit from the sun. The ground looked brilliant (albeit from a distance) – vivid green outfield contrasting nicely with the straw coloured wicket. Who could ask for more? And I won the toss!! 

Electing to bat, I asked Emma Jones and Sara Begg to continue their promising opening partnership. Both looked comfortable and confident, until Sara B. played down the wrong line and heard that all too familiar sound of the bails being dislodged. Sarah Bartlet replaced her, and decided to play herself in and take the opportunity to get some time at the crease. Together, Em and Barts pushed the runs – waiting for the bad ball, and making the most of it.  The departure of Em saw Gerinder de Necker make her welcomed return to Argyle Road. This signalled the start of a bit of a run fest, Barts putting 3 balls into the allotments, before getting it just right for the other two 6’s (hitting the fence and falling inside the ground – no need to bother the nice young man who was tending his plot). She finally departed for 66, to be replaced by Keely Juster. At this stage in the game (24 overs gone, 16 to go), we were 145, and the stage was set. Gerinder started to really take the attack to the bowling, whilst Keely was content just to look for the gaps, to keep the strike rotating. Our 200 came up in the 34th over, which was the signal for Gerinder to ‘go for it’ (she could have fooled me – I was convinced she been doing that for the last 8 overs, such was her aggression!!).  She departed for 63, and looked in very good form – lets hope it bodes well for the season. Danni Warren came out for the last couple of overs, and pushed the score to a very respectful 241 from 40 overs. Certainly something to bowl at. 

Danni was asked to open the bowling along with the old campaigner, ever green Cathy Mowat. It proved a more than useful combination, when Danni struck in the third over, and Cathy, proving the old adage ‘anything you can do, I can do better’, struck in the 4th.  She was at it again in the 6th over – there’s nothing like the ability to bowl straight!! Twickenham were struggling a little, as Aisha Khan replaced Dan at the allotment end, and Shazia Afghan came on at the road end. Both bowled well, and kept the runs down and were rewarded with their first wickets of the season. Things were moving along nicely, at 90 for 6, the game looked almost over, however sprightly middle order fight back ensued, with J. Witten scoring her maiden half century, before Cathy brought her world crashing down with another straight one! Still, there’s nothing like the feeling of your first big score. She had been ably supported by S. Pottay, who had taken a liking to full tosses down the leg side. However, once one wicket falls in a long partnership, another soon follows. So it was, that as her maiden 50 approached, (she was on 47) excitement set in and she set off for a run which was always going to be tight. She hadn’t bargained on the deadly arm of Danni, who threw down the stumps from cover – just as well it hit, because it would have been 4 overthrows otherwise, such was the strength of the throw! In the end, Twickenham finished 63 runs short – a nice game, great weather and good opposition meant that the game was played in the right spirit – an enjoyable way to kick start the season. Long may it continue.