Excellent team win from Horspath Women against a strong Thame side containing a couple of experienced youth players. Overcast conditions and a glorious wicket prepared by Max set the scene for a nail-biting contest for the first game of the season.
After losing the toss, Horspath were put into bat. Michelle and Tracey got us off to flyer dispatching any loose deliveries to the ropes with 12 and 11 respectively. Jen and Bridget managed to build the runs steadily keeping their wicket and seeing off their best young bowler. Saba and Munaza continued to play some nice strokes putting us in the driving seat. Handy partnerships from Kathryn and Taissa, followed by Mary and Tegan (playing their last bowler very well)saw us to a challenging score (186 with the overall loss of 2 wickets.) Thame needed 177 for victory.
Saba immediately put us on the front foot from ball one. then dismissing their opener with a stunning delivery that had her looking back at her destroyed stumps. With economical bowling from Bridget, Kathryn, Mary and Michelle and important wickets from Jen (a superb solo caught and bowled), Munaza ( another clean bowled to join Saba’s)and Tracy capitalising on some indecision from the final pair with an instinctive run out. Overall, Horspath were excellent in the field, especially Tegan, Taissa, Michelle and Mary who all helped put the batswomen under pressure. There were also some excellent boundary stops, saving three runs for the side each time. Taissa and Tracey sealed the win with some brilliant bowling under pressure. Munaza’s strategic captaincy and Tracey’s consistently dependable wicket keeping underpinned a fabulous all round performance from Horspath.
Thame finished on 184 but because of the loss of 4 wickets it was 164.
There were some stand-out performances but the award of Most Valued Player goes to Tracey.
Match report by Archie Lewins;
Scorers Archie Lewins and Benjamin Wise;
Umpire: Fas Dogar.