Petersfield Ladies v Finchampstead

Petersfield Ladies v Finchampstead
2nd June 2013

The Petersfield ladies cricket team travelled to Finchampstead expecting to meet a professional young side and they weren’t disappointed. Once again Captain Jackson lost the toss with Finchampstead opting to bat first on another sunny Sunday. An early wicket for Emma Barrett gave Petersfield some encouragement and they may have had another had they actually appealed for the LBW decision but a superb display of attacking cricket from Hardy ably supported by the more studious Waqar threatened to take the game away from Petersfield as a big score loomed large. Petersfield had a couple more chances to break the partnership but Hardy continued to show her county under 16 status by bringing up her century in only the 20th over with her batting partner scoring only 20 of the 1st 150 runs! Petersfield continued to bowl accurately and the dismissal of Hardy for 116 by the ever willing Emma Stead gave Petersfield a route back into the game which they took with glee. Strong fielding especially by Lorna Williams who took two catches behind the stumps and by Helen Whittaker roaming in the deep combined with some accurate bowling from Wadey, Stead and the luckless Whittaker restricted Finchampstead to only 29 runs from their last 10 overs with their final score reaching 197 for 3 with opener Waqar carrying her bat for a diligent 46 not out. Nerves were aplenty as tea was taken and the three Berkshire county under 16 opening bowlers did give Petersfield plenty of problems with their pace bowling. Wickets fell with regularity however throughout the storm Petersfield opener Emma Stead once again showed her courage and technique and also looked to carry her bat only to be given last out to a doubtful caught behind for 47 with the team score on 83, a loss by 114 runs. Finchampstead were the better side however I would guess that the gap was not as big as first feared, had we taken our chances and had one player bat alongside Emma Stead we would have made a closer game of this and this gives us encouragement for the future. http://petersfield.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=11719437