Hursley Park Girls crowned champions after Lord's win

On a beautifully sunny day at the Home of Cricket, skipper Sophie Butcher lost the toss and HP were invited to bat. The captain went in first with Viola Elvy and they started steadily with just six singles coming from the first two overs. Elvy hit successive fours in the third over to raise the tempo but was yorked in the fourth for 16 with the score on 25. Butcher hit a stylish four through the off-side but Venne Barker was dismissed at the start of over 7 to reduce the score to 34-2. Eleven-year-old Martha Appleby-Ingram now joined the fray and formed a solid partnership with her captain. At the halfway point of the innings, Hursley had progressed to 55-2 against steady bowling from the Staffordshire side. Fourteen were added from the next two overs as the Hursley pair ran well between the wickets, with Appleby-Ingram benefitting with a sharply taken run from an overthrow which turned a three from a well-timed off-drive into a four.

Butcher was now starting to accelerate and picked up two boundaries in the fourteenth over, before opening bowler Hanna Carr returned to bowl Appleby-Ingram, ending an invaluable partnership of 53. A push for two through the off-side saw Butcher through to a 48-ball half-century, and although the wickets of Isabella Peters and Imogen Wilson fell in quick succession the captain continued on her way striking successive balls from spinner Ella-Rose Bradley for four and six to the leg-side. She found a good ally in Maddy Batistich who hit two fours and ran well as 44 runs came from the last four overs.

Sophie Butcher finished on a magnificent unbeaten 85 from 66 balls (nine fours and one six) as the girls in green closed on 142-5. The impressive Whitmore bowlers did not bowl a single wide in the 20 over innings, a rarity in the modern game, and now it was over to their batters.

Captain Maddie Davies, who remarkably has already played under 18 county cricket for Derbyshire, opened the batting for the Midlanders with the impressive Poppy Ward, and the pair started well as they took the total to 44 at the end of the sixth over. The next two overs, bowled by Isabella Peters and Maddy Batistich, yielded just five runs to put pressure back on the pair and then Isabella Peters turned the game on its head with a sensational burst of bowling. In the space of eleven balls she took four wickets (all bowled) and reduced Whitmore to 74-4. Poppy Ward, though, was still at the crease, but needing a reliable partner,  as she saw off Peters’ spell at 91-4. Successive boundaries in the 16th over took the score to 107 and the game was very much back in the balance as Ward reached her half-century.

With 31 needed from 3 overs, skipper Butcher entrusted the key 18th over to young leg-spinner Appleby-Ingram. A single from the first ball crucially took Ward off- strike and five dots followed as Bradley was unable to find a way to score off five well flighted and directed deliveries. 30 off 2 needed and Venne Barker was entrusted with the 19th over. She kept her nerve and when she struck Ward’s leg-stump the game was up. A stumping for Elvy in the last over sealed the victory and the ECB National Cup was on its way to Hampshire.

There were a great number of Hursley supporters in the crowd to witness an awesome display from their team. There were two outstanding individual performances, but this was a true team effort against very strong opposition.  Extremely disciplined and controlled throughout, the girls produced a very mature display of both technique and temperament to cap a season of individual and collective hard work. The excitement amongst the group at the end epitomized the togetherness and the support provided by parents and coaches throughout the journey.