Scorecard

Wheathampstead CC Under 15 B Girls v St Albans Cricket Club Girls U15B on Mon 27 Apr 2026 at 17:30
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 5 runs

Match report “I know it’s 5pm on a Monday, but the bar is open” – the volunteers at Wheathampstead cricket club were keen to introduce a later-in-the-week mentality to the start of the week. Steven was disappointed that he wasn’t going to be able to play human Frogger, running drinks across Wheathampstead Road from the Wicked Lady to the scorer’s desk. The seven girls of St Albans were shutting out the noise of the giddy adults and focusing on their warm-up. The handful who played in this fixture for the U13s last season were recalling the record-breaking 90-run victory, Elaina eyeing up the square leg boundary with a mixture of contempt and fondness (she had scored 38 off 16 balls). Captain Freya lost the toss and Wheathampstead put St Albans in.

Freya and Elaina strode to the wicket. After weeks of hot, dry weather the outfield looked fast and the boundaries were short. They settled into their work, but some tight bowling meant scoring was initially slow. As the overs passed, both batters found the cobwebs, dusted them off and hit out a bit more freely. Freya smashed some lofty straight drives, which plugged in the outfield, and three fours on her way to a retirement score of 30, in the eleventh over. On her U15s debut, Maya replaced her, scoring plenty of runs down the leg side. Elaina reached 30 and was retired in the fifteenth over, replaced by Constance.

With only five overs remaining, both girls ran well and kept the scorers busy with a total of 38 runs being scored. A score of 136 without losing a wicket was a great start to the season! And it would have been higher were it not for some sharp fielding by the oppo.

Paloma and Freya opened the bowling, keeping the batters honest with some disciplined, fast bowling. The tight lines paid off in the fourth over with Freya bowling their opener. Special mention here must go to Luci who stood up to the stumps to St Albans’ fastest bowlers and kept cleanly. Her decision was justified in the fourth over when Charlotte found the faintest of edges with her first ball and Luci pouched it. Constance took a caught & bowled in the sixth over and Freya took a wicket in the seventh to leave the oppo at 41/4 after 8 overs. It looked like the game was heading St Albans’ way but up stepped Rose for the oppo who hammered three fours off Paloma’s third, and final over.

At this point the wind picked up, a rainbow could be seen in the north-eastern sky and rain was on its way. After one over of shall-we-shan’t-we looks between the umpires, play was stopped briefly with everyone taking shelter in the clubhouse. While the girls tucked into some lollies – it wasn’t really the weather but it was kind of a theme for this fixture – the coaches scratched their heads and scoured the rules for the correct rain protocol. As soon as the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method was raised, the rain thankfully abated and the girls were instructed to finish their lollies and return to the field. Moans about ice cream headache filled the clubhouse.

The action resumed with the score at 56/4 with ten overs remaining, the game was in the balance, as was the light. Taking fifteen minutes out of an early-season game already being played under grey skies, meant the girls needed to get a move on. Two overs later, Rose retired on 30, but Maya and Elaina bowled in tandem, kept the pressure on, and Elaina got her reward, taking two wickets. The score was now 80/6 and the oppo needed 57 to win off 6 overs. The girls were confident but the runs kept coming. With Charlotte bowling, Freya ran out the non-striker at the bowler’s end meaning the retired batter could return to the crease and the oppo were down to their last pair. With four overs remaining, the oppo needed 41 runs, they scored 21 in two overs leaving just 20 required and a huge death-overs problem dropped at Freya’s door. In this format each player can bowl a maximum of three overs and with only seven players in the team, there was only one person who could bowl: Luci. We could do without a keeper change in the failing light!

Bowling two consecutive overs isn’t strictly in the rules, but it was deemed to be a better solution than one player bowling four overs. Luci reluctantly passed her pads and gloves to Elaina and, ball in hand, chuntered her way to her bowling mark.

The light was just about on the playable side and, with thoughts going back to another nail-biting match which finished in the gloom - Pakistan v England in Karachi in 2000 – Luci proceeded to restrict the oppo to just 4 off her first over and, with 16 needed off the final over, St Albans conceded 10 off the first five balls. With a six needed for victory and the umpires telling the girls to “get a move on”, Luci bowled full and straight and took the wicket! St Albans won by just five runs - cricket was back!

Player of the match as voted for by the opposition: Luci.

St Albans Cricket Club Girls U15B Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
12nb 28w 7b 4lb 
for 0 wickets
51
136		        
Elaina Ridolfi Retired Not Out  30 41 3 73.17
Freya Witty Retired Not Out  30 34 3 88.24
Maya Lone Not Out  14 26 1 53.85
Constance Durbridge Not Out  12 19 2 63.16
Luci Cordell  
Paloma Theobalds  
Charlotte Wright  
Ann Other  
Ann Other  

Wheathampstead CC Under 15 B Girls Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Rose Sharp3.011200.004.00
Sophie Day3.001900.006.33
Olivia Garcia2.001100.005.50
Miriam Stewart3.001700.005.67
Violet Standen2.001900.009.50
Noushka Lea2.001300.006.50
Grace Monighan3.002200.007.33
Minni Winnan2.001200.006.00

Wheathampstead CC Under 15 B Girls Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
14nb 12w 12b 2lb 
for 8 wickets
40
131 (20.0 overs)		     
Miriam Stewart ct ct Cordell b Wright 2 7 28.57
Minni Winnan b b Witty 2 17 11.76
Nancy G b b Witty 11 10 2 110.0
Noushka Lea ct c&b Durbridge 9 7 2 128.57
Rose Sharp b b Cordell 34 33 6 103.03
Violet Standen b b Ridolfi 5 14 35.71
Grace Monighan Not Out  24 21 3 114.29
Sophie Day b b Ridolfi 1 5 20.0
Olivia Garcia run out run out (Witty) 3 6 50.0

St Albans Cricket Club Girls U15B Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Paloma Theobalds3.001700.005.67
Freya Witty3.00522.501.67
Charlotte Wright3.0022122.007.33
Elaina Ridolfi3.001326.504.33
Constance Durbridge3.0022122.007.33
Maya Lone3.002400.008.00
Luci Cordell1.0010110.0010.00
Ann Other1.00400.004.00