On a lovely summers evening the Legs XI hardball (hardcore) team played a friendly against the U15 girls hardball team who have been training hard under the guidance of Max and Olly. As there were only 8 in each side it was decided to play a pairs game. The ladies have had a bit of hardball practice during the Thursday night sessions with coach Hannah and a couple of nets but had never donned all the gear and attempted to see a ball wearing a helmet, hit it wearing gloves to hold the bat and then run wearing pads. The U15 girls batted first to show us how this was all done!
Each pair faced 4 overs and the girls played well. Grace and Katherine scored 12 off their overs. Alice and Emily 4, Tilly and Rosa 12 and then Eliza and Isla hit a great 16 runs off the last 4 overs. The ladies bowled well and kept the run rate down and also took a magnificent 7 wickets (Libbi, Di, Gem, Sarah, Chloe, Max and Kyla). The girls final score was 244
By now the ladies were gaining confidence and Libbi and Di strode out full of positivity and hit a brilliant 33 runs off their 4 overs. The rest of the team followed suit. Sarah and Gem hit 20, Vicky and Chloe 24 and an excellent 33 from Max and Kyla. Max hit 7x 4's but the highlight of the game was Katherine Banwell clean bowling her coach Max! U15 wicket takers were Grace, Alice and Katherine. The ladies finished on 310 and were the winners.
The game was a useful coaching experience for all concerned and Legs XI are grateful to the U15 girls for giving them a practice match. Hopefully we can repeat this later in the season.