The first game was against Miskin Manor Blue, who batted first. Ashlin took a wicket with his third ball and Osian the same with his first, but this was balanced by some good striking by the Miskin batters taking their score after 4 overs to 227. Harry bowled really well, as did Yash to stem the flow of runs, and a wicket each and only conceding a few singles in the final two overs from Rhys G and Ojas meant that Miskin finished on 233. Rhys M and Osian got the Whitchurch innings off to a fine start, running everything hard, but Ollie and Harry faced some good bowling in their two overs, so at half way, W-HCC were behind the asking rate at 206. Yash and Ashlin batted well at third pair to push the score to 224 and get us back into the game, but there was a little too much for Rhys G and Ojas to do as last pair, and although they scored well, a couple of crucial wickets were also lost, and we fell just short at 229. This was a good all round show with bat and ball against a very good side, so we took a lot of confidence from that into the second game.

In the second round of games, Whitchurch faced Dinas Powys who won the toss and decided to bat, and thus we were in our preferred position of batting second. The team put on a fine display in the field, with Ashlin first up conceding just a single, and two wickets in the second over for Rhys M, including Ojas attempting a tricky catch, just dropping it and then running the batsman out instead. Esther bowled superbly in her first ever game, and there was a wicket for Pranaav too, so at half way Dinas had 197. A wicket maiden for Yash and a wicket for Rhys G were the highlights of the second half of the innings, preventing DP from getting going and they finished on 206. Rhys M hit an excellent 10 in the opening pair of the Whitchurch innings with Yash, then Esther and Harry both got runs in a really good pairing to take W-HCC to a very comfortable 225 at half way. Ashlin and Pranaav were third pair, scoring 9 and 8, so that Rhys G and Ojas could finish things up, with Rhys G scoring a season’s best of 20. Final score was 263 for a comfortable victory.

The third game was always going to be a tough one against the other Miskin Manor side, the Reds. Miskin won the toss and decided to bowl first. Osian and Rhys M again started things well, and the good work was continued by Esther and Ollie at 2nd pair meaning at half way we had reached 213. Ashlin and Pranaav played some good shots and were running very well between the wickets to move the score on nicely, and Rhys G and Ojas also played good shots and ran hard, although a potentially crucial wicket was also lost. W-HCC finished on a very respectable 242. Ashlin and Rhys M opened the bowling very tidily for Whitchurch, and there were then wickets for Esther (smart catch by Rhys G!) and Pranaav to restrict Miskin to 211 at half way. We suspected that there were some very good batters still to come and so it proved, with Osian and Ollie battling bravely, Miskin had crept ahead at the six over mark. Rhys G also faced some strong hitting, and even a wicket in the final over from Ojas was not quite enough, with Miskin finishing on 251.

Look at the scores we made today: 229, 263 and 242. Compare that to the first week where we made 228, 198 and 204, this is one indication of the progress the team has made. We are competitive in all our games now but sometimes things don’t go our way! Hitting the ball in the air to the fielders down the ground was a bit of an issue today, which we will have to work on this week in training. However, we received compliments from our hosts on the standard of the cricket this morning, so well done everyone!