Queenswood’s U13 and U15 Cricket teams played fantastically on Monday 29 February aspart of the Lady Taverners’ tournament.

U13s Reach Final

The U13 impressively dispatched all comers in their group rounds – winning each
game with huge amounts of room to spare. Jemima Bisseker – who would eventually be named ‘Player of the Tournament’ – top scored in every pool game, whilst also taking vital wickets in a succession of excellent bowling spells. She was helped along by Captain Megan Langley and Melina Leonidou who formed an impressive opening partnership. Their quick and aggressive runs, combined with the tight line and length of Ellie Gilmore, outstanding fielding from Hannah Kirkpatrick and superb wicket keeping from Mia Greig, meant we were very confident as we moved into the final.

Unfortunately, things did not work out as we might have expected. We were on-top against Beaumont School right from the start: Emma Meyer bowling their highest scorer first ball, and also taking some superb catches to dismiss their top order. However, the performance never quite gelled as it had in previous games – we conceded far too many runs and, sadly, our chase never caught fire. It came down to the last over with Megan and Becky Walter needing 35 for us to win, of which we would, sadly, fall 10 short.

A fantastic experience but one which, to be honest, we will feel did not end the way the rest of the tournament had suggested it might.

U15s Progress to the County Rounds

The U15s could not have had a worse start. We shipped 103 runs off 8 overs in the first match – 40 of them wides! – and then utterly collapsed in our run chase. However, we dusted ourselves down and came out fighting for the rest of the group matches. Charlotte Christodulides and Lara Sikka produced a series of epic opening partnerships – consistently reaching the retirement score. Marina Baldwin combined aggressive and tight bowling spells with some mighty hitting – including one three ball innings before reaching the retirement maximum! (She described this as ‘boring’…)

Saniya Singh and Jess Hurley worked well together as a bowling pair that improved with every game and also as big hitting middle order players. Likewise, Milly Davies was lightning quick behind the stumps – earning many wickets through her speed of thought – and also capable of big sixes and stingy overs at the death. We were also fortunate that each of our alternate players – Geralynn Taylor-Mayers, Chloe Munro, Elene Abeywickrama and Sophie Dutton – batted, bowled and fielded with real aplomb and commitment, which meant we were able to quickly defeat our subsequent opponents.

The margin of defeats in these games was so important as this meant that, despite our early loss, we were able to scrape through to the final on net run rate. Here, we had to face Beaumont School (again) – we were anxious to avenge our earlier loss. From the very first ball, though, the result was never in doubt –with three wickets falling in quick succession to Marina. Beaumont would eventually be 70 all out – which was never going to be enough. We knocked the runs off with three overs to spare and have, pleasingly, made it through to the county rounds. 

Overall, a really fantastic day – and we look forward to seeing what the next round holds for the U15 teams.

If you are currently in Lower School and have any interest in being part of Queenswood Cricket, we will be looking for players for the forthcoming outdoors tournaments. Do keep an eye out on your emails!