Gunnersbury vs Portsmouth - Sunday 29th April 2007

The 2007 season kicked off with a friendly match against Portsmouth at Argyle Road, not to disappoint us the pitch looked a little challenging to say the least but still it's the same for both sides as they say! As Portsmouth were short of a full team and Gunnersbury were well represented by 15 players it was decided to offer Portsmouth the services of Sarah 'Barts' Bartlett for the day which they duly accepted! Beth Morgan managed to avoid losing the toss by persuading Portsmouth that Gunnersbury should bat first, so out walked Prianka Sedov and Helena 'H' Stolle start the season off in style. The pair were going along nicely and dealing with the opening attack until a delivery kept low (not the only time the wicket played a part in a dismissal!) and had Prianka bowled.

This brought in Chander Kaul who after making her comeback to cricket last season has used the winter to get back all of the timing and shot-making ability that she has shown in the past, and it was the Portsmouth bowlers who were the first (and hopefully not last) to suffer at her expense. Chander's innings of 69 not out included three sixes and showed the kind of patience and watchfulness (and no small bit of good fortune having been dropped by Barts, of all people, pretty early on!) that is needed to bat on the famous Argyle Road pitch.

The wicket of H brought Emma 'Cazza' Jones to the crease and to her horror it wasn't long before Barts was brought into the attack (it's a good thing that Cazza and Barts usually play on the same team as on the only two previous occasions that they've been on opposing teams Barts has got Cazza out both times!) not to disappoint the duel continued and despite a few lovely shots it was Barts who ended victorious getting Cazza caught behind off her glove and to make things worse leaving her with a bruised hand!

Despite a few cameo appearances and a number of great shots there was a steady flow of wickets falling and it was left to Chander to keep the score board ticking along and take Gunns to a total of 187 for 8 off of 40 overs….a steady start to the season and giving the bowlers a good total to work with.

After a re-fuelling it was the turn of Gunns bowlers to get to work, Binaisha 'Binny' Shah was given the honour of bowling the first over and she was soon showing good pace and bounce, at the other end Danni Warren swung the ball to keep Portsmouth's openers on their toes. It wasn't long before Binny got the first wicket finding a way through the bats defences and knocking over the stumps, the following over Emily 'PA' Jones held onto a great catch at cover to send number two back to the pavilion. Gerinder 'G' de Necker was the next bowler into the attack and in combination with Cathy Mowat, who was her usual measly self giving away only 3 runs in her four overs and taking 1 wicket, the pressure was really on Portsmouth.

When wicket number 3 fell out strolled Barts, with all the fielders taking a few steps back in case she connected, they need not have worried as just as she was looking like she'd got to grips with the pitch she miss-timed one and managed to pick out Beth who held on whilst diving forwards….bragging rights to Beth for a few weeks!! The dismissal of Barts saw any hope of Portsmouth chasing Gunns score end and through some tight bowling from Naomi Dattani, Bill Bennett, Beth, Prianka and PA their run chase ended 102 runs short. A special mention must go to Cazza who kept wicket very well despite testing conditions, a bit of early season wayward bowling and a sore hand!

All in all a good win and most importantly much needed match practice for a number of players…..by the looks of this 2007 could again be a good year for Gunns!