Scorecard

Harpenden CC - Under 13 Girls-2 v St Albans Cricket Club Girls U13B on Tue 08 Jul 2025 at 18:00
St Albans Cricket Club Won by 35 runs

Match report Harpenden U13s 67/6 (net score 237) v St Albans U13s 97/5 (net score 272) - St Albans won by 35 runs

The girls arrived at St George’s school for their match versus Harpenden to see the industrial tape measure unravelled across the pitch. The immediate reaction was one of concern: 40 overs of strict umpiring from an over-fastidious oppo coach wasn’t on the list of demands for the final match of the season. However, it was Steven using the measure, trying to make sure the boundary was set closer than the 50 yards he usually insisted upon!

Whilst Steven dusted off his conversion factor tables, the girls busied themselves trying to work out whether St George’s school was residential (yes), how many ghosts walked its halls (many) and if feelings of dread would be experienced by the boarders in the attic (what were you thinking, Ray?). With nine players warming up, one of them would need to be ghosted for tonight’s match. Luckily enough, well – sort of – Freya had hammered her finger in woodwork a few hours previous – do kids still do woodwork? – so she would only be able to field. The spare player – thank you, Eleanor! - meant she could spend another evening sitting in the BOWLER’S NAME chair, doing her best Andy Zaltzman impression.

The boundary, comprised of flags, rope and an old bit of hose, was set at 36.58 metres. Captain Elaina lost the toss on the second round of scissors-paper-stone and St Albans were asked to field. Leila, Eve and Eleanor kept the opening pair of batters quiet, but it was Charlotte 2.0 with her modified bowling action – rampaging up to and through the crease like Slimer attacking Venkman - who took the Saints’ first wicket in the fourth over. She came, she saw, she kicked a$$!

With Alice taking a wicket with her second ball and two wickets in two balls from an Eve over - one bowled, the second a run out following good work by Alice at point to get the ball quickly to Elaina behind the stumps - the girls pegged the oppo back nicely. In fact, it wasn’t until the 14th over that they would score their first four. Jess in the 17th over and Leila in the 18th over both took wickets (bowled) and the oppo finished on 237.

Charlotte and Eve opened the St Albans batting with Charlotte quickly regretting her decision to allow Eve to strong-arm her into facing the first ball. Bowled third ball, she gave it plenty of “SEE. I TOLD YOU SO!” as she discontentedly slouched to the non-striker’s end. She made up for it with her customary legside shots, including one boundary on her penultimate ball.

If you need someone to ghost down the pitch and steal runs backing up halfway down the track, who you gonna call? Yep, Ishara and Alice of course. The crowd expected nothing less than the sort of chaos that only a 100ft tall Stay Puft Marshamallow man walking down Central Park West can cause. That and an innings by Ishara, who was presumably haunted by the possibility of anything less than a strike rate of 100. She put pressure on the fielders and had apparitions of runs where none truly existed. Except they did; for professional run stealers like Ishara and Alice, there are always singles. Sometimes runs were called when the ball was in the keeper’s gloves, sometimes before the ball had reached the on-strike batter. It was entertaining stuff and for thrill-seekers, their five overs finished too quickly. 31 was their score, they would be the highest-scoring St Albans pair.

Leila and Elaina were the next up and halfway through their innings a car drove around the outfield with a visibly chuntering Groundskeeper Willie behind the wheel. He got out, sneered at the cricket and proceeded to remove the part of the boundary rope that belonged to him: the hose. Sensible questions asked at this juncture were: What did he urgently need to water? Why was a piece of hose being used to mark the boundary (STEVEN!)? And, could the £5k termly fees be spent on more appropriate, full-time boundary markers? The questions remained unanswered as Elaina and Leila kept the runs flowing, finding the boundary three times. The oppo brought their best bowlers on for our final pair of Jess and Eleanor who pushed the St Albans total to 272 and a victory by 35 runs. A fitting end to a season where the girls won six out of eight matches and finished second in the league behind a rampaging, unbeaten OAs. I’ll contact OAs to try to get a friendly fixture booked in before we all head off for the summer holidays.

Best bowler as voted for by the opposition: Charlotte

Best batter as voted for by the opposition: Elaina

St Albans Cricket Club Girls U13B Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
14nb 22w 5b 2lb 
for 5 wickets
43
97		        
Eve Gee Not Out  2 11 18.18
Charlotte Wright Not Out  7 14 1 50.0
Ishara Smith Not Out  12 18 66.67
Alice Mansfield Not Out  8 7 1 114.29
Leila Leggett Not Out  7 15 1 46.67
Elaina Ridolfi Not Out  14 10 2 140.0
Eleanor Richards Not Out  3 14 21.43
Jessica Edwards Not Out  1 11 9.09

Harpenden CC - Under 13 Girls-2 Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Molico Wong2.00818.004.00
Tahla Zarook2.01300.001.50
Naomi Pitt2.001000.005.00
Sienna Smith3.011000.003.33
Phoebe Smyth3.001427.004.67
Nina Norman3.01919.003.00
Edda Bellamy3.002400.008.00
Heidi Wun2.001200.006.00

Harpenden CC - Under 13 Girls-2 Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
26nb 8w 1b 1lb 
for 6 wickets
36
67 (20.0 overs)		     
Sienna Smith   16 12.50
Naomi Pitt Not Out  0 9 0
Heidi Wun   16 25.00
Molico Wong   9 22.22
Tahla Zarook Not Out  4 12 33.33
Phoebe Smyth Not Out  5 13 1 38.46
Edda Bellamy   15 1 60.0
Nina Norman   10 1 90.0

St Albans Cricket Club Girls U13B Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Leila Leggett3.01212.000.67
Eve Gee3.00818.002.67
Eleanor Richards3.001400.004.67
Charlotte Wright2.01212.001.00
Alice Mansfield2.00616.003.00
Ishara Smith2.00500.002.50
Elaina Ridolfi3.001500.005.00
Jessica Edwards2.0013113.006.50