The Huskies U15a2 squad triumphed on an extremely cold may evening beating Old Albanians by 28 runs

The Huskies were sent into bat with India and Eda opening the batting, the bowling was of a high standard with Harpenden Women's first xi player Grace opening the bowling for OA's. We weathered the early storm with Eda in particular looking solid, mixing defense with some deft shots , before India got a good ball which brought Bea to the wicket. After hitting some powerful shots, Bea managed to get herself out to probably the worst ball she'll face this year hitting the ball into her own leg , then onto the stumps from a ball a foot outside leg stump. Emily played a few nice shots before being dismissed by an excellent catch from OA's captain Phoebe. Honey faced some impressive OA's bowling, but after a slow start began to find the boundary with ease, hitting some powerful shots through the leg side to finish with 16. We continued to run hard picking up lots of singles and 2s with smart cricket., as the final few wickets fell. OA's had bowled accurately with few extras, but we felt with 110 we had a competitive total on the board. Eda top scored with a career best of 22, but everyone had contributed to a real team effort.

Coming out to field we had a clear plan to keep extras down , take wickets and be loud. We knew the OA's lineup was particularly strong at the top of the order so early wickets would be key. The Huskies started brilliantly , a near unplayable swinging delivery from Honey trimmed the off bail of the OA's opener. Their captain was next to go , proving the old adage not to run on a misfield, after an initial fumble, Asha recovered quickly and got the ball in leaving the batter in no mans land half way down. After her disappointment with the bat Aarya was clearly fired up and in the 4th over delivered two deserved wickets with 2 clean bowled. This was followed up by captain Asha in the next picking up 2 more; with the dangerous Grace well held by Eda. Wickets followed for Emily and Sophie , before a mini fightback from OA's stopped the flow of wickets, albeit with runs hard to come by. With runs in the bank we always felt like we in full control, and had kept good overs in hand, Emily was recalled to apply the coup de grace in the 19th picking up a final wicket and a runout. Asha, Emily and Aarya picked up 2 wickets each and returned great economy to boot.

An excellent all round performance with all 9 players contributing and a well deserved victory in our first game on the new 20 yard strip on the common. Thanks to all who braved the cold to support. We've got a small break now but then the games come thick and fast after half term please make sure you keep your availabilities updated.