With Form 7 away this weekend, six girls were drafted in to play in the eleven and they didn’t let the side down.

After a run out off the first ball of the day and then losing our second wicket after 10 runs, things looked ominous. However, in came Venetia who began playing some confident shots and when Thabo was caught, Esme was next in to accompany her. They struck up a great partnership with good communication, running quick singles and both hitting boundaries. Venetia quickly reached 50 - normally 2nd XI players are retired after 25 or 30 but Venetia was playing so well and the rest of the team told me that she must play on when I approached them to ask if they were keen to have a bat!

Esme was bowled for 24 to a brilliant delivery but it was a wonderful 96 partnership that the girls made. We made a total of 161 with Venetia still at the crease on 73 not out - a terrific knock.

After match tea and a chance to warm up, Esme took an early wicket but Merchiston went on to bat very well with two players forming a strong partnership. It was cold and damp and we lacked a bit of dynamism in the field although Isabella, Thabo and Will were stand out performers in this area. After the first 10 overs of the Merchiston innings they were well ahead of the run rate but Thabo came on and took two quick wickets to take his total to 3 and this made the game much closer than it looked it might be. Merchiston managed to get it over the line and win in the penultimate over but the boys and girls today can be very proud of their performance today with lots learned. Our bowling was generally good considering we were dealing with a wet ball but more time in the nets to work on accuracy and getting the length right will pay off as we move through the season.

An afternoon of great fun and entertainment from both teams today. Well done!