Scorecard

Wheathampstead CC - Under 13 B v St Albans Cricket Club Girls U13B on Wed 18 Jun 2025 at 18:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 90 runs

Match report St Albans U13s 146/5 (net score 321) v Wheathampstead U13s 61/6 (net score 231) - St Albans won by 90 runs

For reasons too dull to explain, the crosstown traffic was marking it hard to get to the other side of town and up to Wheathampstead CC’s ground opposite the Wicked Lady - supposedly named after a highwaywoman who terrorised the locals in the 17th century. A pub ideally located for thirsty parents willing to play human Frogger on the St Albans Road with up to five pints of cold stuff balanced perfectly on a bar tray. Balanced perfectly, that is, until a brisk road crossing breaks out into a mini-jog when a car speeds round the bend. WOOOAAHHHHH!

Captain Leila was already running 10 minutes late and could see nothing but a traffic jam straight up ahead caused by temporary traffic lights in Sandridge which all too regularly turned from green to red. With just four St Albans girls at the ground, it was agreed that we would bat first.

Elaina and Constance were first up and from the off the wicked lady Elaina, our very own Highway Bat, decided that the only way to deal with the bowling was to drive at ninety miles an hour leaving tyre tracks across the backs of the bowlers. She started off slowly with a two, followed by a dot but her manners were rough and rude and any ball pitching on middle and leg was disdainfully pulled for four to the square leg boundary.

Three fours were scored off the first over but the action didn’t stop there. The bowlers kept dropping long hops onto Elaina’s plate: she took what she wanted from the bowling, she ate what she took, her innings was one long feast of legside boundaries. By the end of which she had a swag bag full of nine fours and the first pair finished on 57 - the highest pairs score under the current management!

Kaya - showing excellent defensive technique, and Jess - unveiling her trademark pull shot for four to the fine leg boundary, continued to score freely and finished on 31. Lauren and Eleanor (who was this close to her first U13s four) ran hard in the heat but some tight bowling meant that the oppo got their first wickets of the match and the pair finished on 13. And finally, the last pair Leila and Freya finished on 20 which included a slightly suicidal run out at the start of the 16th over. The St Albans score finished on a record-breaking, Ted Rogers-loving, 321. Phew - time for a well-deserved orange squash break.

With a huge mountain to climb, the oppo’s openers strode out to bat. They wanted a few easy overs to accumulate some runs and eat into the mammoth St Albans total. What they got was Elaina bowling a maiden. They were sick of the sight of her. One down, only two more overs of her to go. Captain Leila brought herself on to bowl the second over and there was an immediate response: she clean-bowled the batter - which she repeated in the fourth over and followed up with a caught behind (Elaina at keeper) in the seventeen over for superb figures of three wickets for just seven runs. The first pair finished on -1.

Without exception the girls bowled and fielded beautifully and Eleanor perfectly demonstrated the girls’ commitment when, like Roadrunner, she ran from deep point to deep cover to save two runs in the sixth over to stop a certain four. The return throw to the bowler’s end was typically accurate too - huge applause all round. The second pair scored 22 and took the score to 221.

Leila kept rotating her bowlers with great effect. In a break from fly-swatting at backstop, Constance struck with yet another clean-bowled wicket in the thirteenth over - incidentally, the over when the oppo scored their first four. Lauren bowled two overs and came away with two maidens. Kaya, Jess and Eleanor all bowled neatly restricting the oppo’s run-scoring options. By the end of the match the St Albans bowlers would limit their extras to almost half the value of the oppo’s.

The third pair scored 11 and Freya was brought on to bowl her last two overs. In the second of which, over nineteen, she clean-bowled the batter for ball one, begged the oppo umpire for a sharp catch taken at the wicket taken by Elaina for ball two – eventually given out after a lot of consideration – and was this close to a hat-trick when the batter lobbed an attempted drive into the air which fell equidistant between mid-off and a running-backwards Freya. Gads. Constance bowled the final over, conceding just one, the oppo finished on 231. A huge margin of victory for the girls!

Huge credit to the oppo who attempted to provide the girls with well-deserved lollies at the end of the match. The Highway Bat, Elaina had other ideas. She was a baddie: she had taken all she wanted from their bowling, her innings was one long feast, yet she was still hungry. When she saw the oppo skipper walking around with a cool bag she stamped “Give me your buns and your biscuits, give me your chocolate eclairs”, a slightly perplexed skipper asked “What are you talking about?” and pulled the cool bag a little closer but she could sense the tension rising, and relented. “Err, will they do?”. Elaina snatched the bag and snarled “I really wanted some Magnums but I’ll take the lot”. And off she rode into the setting sun with a bulging swag bag containing a load of fours and some rapidly-melting lollies.

Player of the match as voted for by the opposition: Leila

St Albans Cricket Club Girls U13B Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 47w 7b  
for 5 wickets
56
146		        
Elaina Ridolfi Not Out  38 16 9 237.50
Constance Durbridge Not Out  12 9 2 133.33
Kaya Hawkins Not Out  2 16 12.50
Jessica Edwards Not Out  10 9 2 111.11
Lauren Clarke Not Out  12 11 1 109.09
Eleanor Richards Not Out  7 14 50.0
Freya Witty Not Out  9 6 1 150.0
Leila Leggett Not Out  5 18 27.78

Wheathampstead CC - Under 13 B Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Millie Styles2.002500.0012.50
Sienna Grinyer2.001200.006.00
Phoebe Dedman4.001728.504.25
Sadie Packwood2.001900.009.50
Eva Jablowski3.0016116.005.33
Emmie Keane3.00800.002.67
Lily Argent2.001300.006.50
Harriet Sherriff3.0029129.009.67

Wheathampstead CC - Under 13 B Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
4nb 23w 5b  
for 6 wickets
32
61 (20.0 overs)		     
Phoebe Dedman   12 8.33
Lily Argent   13 15.38
Emmie Keane Not Out  3 8 37.50
Sadie Packwood Not Out  4 17 23.53
Eva Jablowski Not Out  3 15 20.0
Sienna Grinyer   10 1 40.0
Millie Styles   9 1 111.11
Harriet Sherriff   16 37.50

St Albans Cricket Club Girls U13B Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Elaina Ridolfi3.01700.002.33
Leila Leggett3.00732.332.33
Lauren Clarke2.02000.000.00
Eleanor Richards2.00900.004.50
Constance Durbridge3.0010110.003.33
Freya Witty3.00623.002.00
Jessica Edwards2.00700.003.50
Kaya Hawkins2.001000.005.00