Wanstead Women’s 1st XI vs Hutton 1st XI:
Hundred game No 1:
The seasons' first 2 hundred games against Hutton were played at home. Hutton won the toss and elected to bat first. A brilliant start by our bowlers as we got 2 early wickets taken by Noor and Zainab and kept Hutton on the back foot until their key batter (Erica) arrived to bat. The pressure shifted towards Wanstead as our ladies struggled to take further wickets and the opposition recovered their batting strike rate while batter no 4 (Erica) was still on the field. Amber came in and took the 2 key wickets of Erica and Hira in 2 balls with Zainab taking a brilliant catch. There was a sigh of relief as we know the damage that they could have done towards the end of the game. Nehal came in and took a wicket, and brilliant run outs in the field by Madiha and Nanette helped us restrict them to a total of 111 for 7 wickets off 100 balls.
Our batters struggled to score again as we lost 2 early wickets in the game. An amazing partnership of 41 runs between Saba and Nehal in Saba’s first game of the season gave us the stability that was needed. Saba scored 15 and Nehal 40, then we lost Saba. Nanette built another good partnership of 21 runs with Nehal. We lost further wickets and couldn’t chase the target of 112 runs as we finished off on 96 runs for 6 wickets.
Hundred game No 2:
We won the toss and elected to bat first, but the struggle for scoring continued. We lost the first wicket early and scoring a run-a- ball was looking hard work. Saba scored 15, Zainab 23 and Momina 17, but this wasn't good enough to even get to a total of 100 runs in 100 balls. 10 extras helped the ladies to finish off on 87 runs for 3 wickets, with 54 dot balls from the 100.
It was a good bowling start, with Zainab taking 2 wickets in 2 balls, but we couldn’t break their partnership or even take further wickets. Hutton chased the total of 88 runs in 71 balls with 29 balls to spare. We really need to work on our batting in the next games to win them.
Wanstead Women 2nd XI v Hutton Women
Travelling to Hutton, it was another tough fixture for the Women’s 2nd team having just 8 players again. We lost the toss, but thankfully Hutton elected to field. A great innings from Deetya posting 26 (including four 4s) and Helen helped up the total with 19. Victoria in her very first hardball game finished 6 not out including a 4. We were bowled out for 88 after 19 overs, and we regrouped during tea.
Deciding on an aggressive bowling plan, we put Kea, Deetya and Clem into bowl on rotation. The plan paid off and we skittled Hutton out for just 49 off 15 overs. There were 4 wickets for Clem, 3 for Deetya and 1 for Keya sealing victory, and exceptional keeping from Iqra. A special shout out to Victoria and Gunjan playing their first hardball games, and Clare batting in hardball for the first time. Great team spirit and lots of fun. This team is coming together beautifully and hugely supportive of each other. We all left with big smiles on our faces.