The Huskies u13b squad made it 5 out of 5 tonight at an unseasonably cold Rothamstead park.

Asha lost the toss and the opposition asked us to set a total, Sophie in just her second game was given the responsibility of opening the batting with Daisy. From the off it was difficult for the Huskies to time the ball with the Hitchin bowling quite an assortment of wides , no balls combined with the occasional straight one. They also kept a very tight field meaning its was much harder than in previous games for the girls to rotate the strike. The theme repeated through the next pair of Hannah and Bess with the ball generally hard to time, only punctuated by an excellent shot for 4 from Hannah. Although scoring off the bat was difficult the Huskies did exceptionally well not to lose wickets with extras providing a good proportion of the the total. At halfway Hitchin switched their wicket keeper , and the quality of the bowling went up immeasurably, Chloe and Asha did well to survive the two overs from Isobel , clearly Hitchin's standout player, whilst looking to score off the other bowlers. The final pair of Bea and Dorothy started well with Bea scoring a couple of powerful fours through the leg side before a comical run out saw them both stranded mid pitch. Hitchin's gun bowler came back on for the last over and picked up two wickets, however with the last ball Dorothy managed to get her away for a boundary. 273 felt a reasonable total, but one that we would have to bowl well to defend.

The messages again were to bowl tight, minimise extras and work together in the field. Dorothy picked up an early wicket in her first spell , bowling off a longer run up and with much greater pace. Whilst the Huskies were all bowling with much more consistency than their Hitchin counterparts this was sometimes resulting in the ball being easier to time and Hitchin picked up a few fours with their second pair. At halfway Hitchin were ahead of the rate at 47/1. Captain Asha regathered her team at the interval and the Huskies made the pressure count , intelligent cricket saw two runouts, with Bess' excellent return giving Bea the chance to whip off the bails and smart decision making from Daisy who kept hold of the ball to execute a runout of her own. Further wickets for Hannah, Daisy and a second for Dorothy put the Huskies well in control with the last pair needing 45. Although no more wickets fell the bowling from Asha, Chloe and Daisy deserves a special mention as they managed to restrict the scoring with impressive accuracy at the death despite facing Hitchin's best pair. The Huskies brought home the win by a comfortable 20 runs, fantastic figures for Dorothy of 2 wickets for just 2 runs which earned her a well deserved player of the match from the opposition. All the Huskies can be proud of their bowling tonight, as this victory was founded on some outstanding tight bowling and togetherness in the field.

Thanks to all the girls , to Tarz for scoring and the parents who braved the elements to support us.