It was a dubious start to Sunday morning weather wise, which found the 9 Hartlepool girls arriving at Gateshead Fell at 8.45am. Being greeted by an empty and damp ground, we were left to wonder if the tournament had been cancelled and we’d not been told.

Fears of cancellation were avoided, when the clouds broke and the organisers arrived. A quick warm up, lead by stand-in coach Cam, got the team ready and eager to take on their first opponents, Durham.

Hartlepool won the toss and opted to field. Durham looked like a well-drilled team, but Hartlepool’s tight bowling and fielding meant they struggled to make as many runs as they looked capable of. With Hartlepool taking two wickets, Durham finished with 229.

Hartlepool to bat. The batting combinations of Macy/Mia, Evie/Izzy, Grace//Lucy and Anna/Kate made their way through the overs to record a comfortable 264 victory. No wickets lost.

Next up were the hosts, Gateshead Fell, and a similar story unfolded.

Hartlepool again won the toss and opted to field first. With excellent fielding and backing up from Alexa, tight bowing from Mia and Anna’s rapid delivery smashing the wickets, the hosts were held to 232.

In bat, Alexa confidently joined the pairs and all made a strong contribution. “I can’t bat,” cried Macy, before showing everyone otherwise, when hitting a boundary on her first ball. Solid batting was shown by Grace, and Kate made an impressive 30 from a single over! Hartlepool 264, 1 Wicket lost.

Final game against Whickham.

Hartlepool, for a change, won the toss again and decided to field, for a change.
Superior fielding from all Hartlepool players, including several well held catches, kept Whickham to 217.

Hartlepool in bat and they were reduced to a relatively modest 241, having lost 2 wickets. Whickham had brought a mixed-age team and to make the teams level, the coach’s 4 year old son, Matthew, was allowed to play and proceeded to bowl out one of our girls! I won’t mention who lost her wicket, but that Matthew really is a ‘Crafty Monkey’!

It was a pleasure to watch the girls playing and what impressed me the most was how together they all were, showing great respect for each other and fantastic teamwork. I counted at least 5 catches from Evie, Anna, Kate, Izzy and Lucy. The batting was solid, but the fielding was, by far, the standout part of the game - with every single person making a huge contribution.

The weather ended up being great with the cricket being of a similar standard. Thanks to all of the parents for their support and bacon sandwiches.

Well done girls!