A cold start to the season with a delayed start due to damp outfield. We lost the toss and a delighted Sydenham asked us to bat first. However their plans as coach Blair Franklin predicted did not go to plan with young Stella Stewart (23) and Nat Cox (21) opening the batting and putting on a great 42 before Stella was dismissed . last year Stella was a standout in the u16 team but her improvement over the off season was impressive and she is developing into a very strong all rounder. fairly soon Gabby (44) and PJ (62) were in and had taken us to 167 before the 109 run partnership was broken. But the runs kept flowing with young Madi Greenaway and Abi Platt as well as Georgia Edge all contributing to take us through to 225 by the end of our 50 overs. It was encouraging that we batted all our overs.
Nancy Bond was a great find in the off season. she played underage rep cricket for Middlesex as a teenager and wanted to get back into it after travelling extensively and settling in Christchurch. She took the prized wicket of the Sydenham captain and one of the openers. Georgia Edge was a welcome return to the bowling crease taking 3 wickets. Gabby bowled beautifully as was unlucky not to have a wicket or two. The tail were wiped up by Tanja Loxton, Julia Manton and Madi Greenaway. Abi Platt was impressive at keeper only letting 4 byes through.
It was however a tight game and a great way to start the season. We are looking forward to seeing PJ bowl and also welcome our other English player and also welcome back some of our regulars from last year who were away for this game. It was a very pleasing win especially with 7 players debuting at prems.
