Scotland Women Under 17 do the double against Cumbria Women Under 17

Match  One - 29 June

The Wildcats Under-17s moved into the third game of the CAG North campaign, this time at the picturesque Burneside club in Kendal; in a scorching hot June there are fewer lovelier places to be than the Lake District but one team would make the most of the weather and the other would toil in the field.

So it was that when skipper Lynne Dickson called correctly that she chose to bat and consign, all going well, the Cumbrians to chasing leather in the sun. So it proved to be.

With the top 3 failing in the previous CAG games it was vital that openers Dickson and Chatterji, both capable and destructive batters, made a good start by occupying the crease. After a promising start Scotland’s openers seemed to be warming to the task ahead; nothing silly ladies and steady the ship. Sadly in the 6th over Dickson played around a straight one and was bowled by the steady Cloudsdale.

Lynne Dickson is a very capable all round cricketer and proving to be a more than capable leader but she needs to dispel the demons that she takes out to the crease with her and settle down to the game that we all know she can play!

Scotland’s number 3, Lorna Jack, has had some rotten luck in these games and so it continued today being dismissed to Cloudsdale’s next delivery! On many other days Lorna’s crisply clipped drive to mid-on would have shot along the ground passed that fielder but today the bowler, following through, stumbled slightly and took a remarkable catch inches from the turf. Sadly for Lorna the same player proceeded to make fielding seem remarkably difficult for the remainder of the innings – when the cricket gods aren’t with you . . . !

Now in a very familiar position over these last CAG games (again at not very many for 2 down) Leigh Kasperek came into bat with an almighty task ahead of her and Chatterji to rescue the innings. Both rose to the challenge and as the Cumbrians wilted in the afternoon heat Kasperek again created havoc in the fielding ranks scurrying seemingly impossible singles; Chatterji, content to occupy the crease, gave her great support and the pair saw off the openers.

The Cumbrian skipper was forced to wring the changes to the attack as the heat took its toll; Kasperek and Chatterji saw off the openers and then 3rd and 4th change but it wasn’t until the 17th over that they were parted with the score on 54. Chatterji fell to Foster in only her second over playing back to one and trapped in front of all three stumps. In truth the bowling had lost its early venom – aside from  Marshall and Cloudsdale there was little danger – and Chatterji’s dismissal was one of a tiring batter but she had done her job superbly.

Sam Haggo is another capable young cricketer of promise and potential (all energy and enthusiasm in the field and a destructive batter when she gets in) but she too carries demons to the crease that not only undoes her excellent cricketing qualities but ought to be left on the boundary. So it was today when already having got off the mark easily that she played an unnecessary and ill-directed shot off Patterson’s gentle medium pacers and was caught – very well as it happens – by a tumbling Marshall at mid-off.

Far from ‘relative’ security, at 54-3, Haggo’s dismissal with the score on 57 was only a wicket away from a collapse and a poor total against a team that would welcome the respite from the heat but be emboldened by their good fortune.

A common mantra in the Scotland camp is ‘partnerships-partnerships’ and indeed it is these that set totals and win games but too often these appear to be reactive ones rather tan taking the game to the opposition. Nevertheless, that they come in these circumstances show’s that the team can dig deep when they must.

Kasperek needed to continue in the mode that she had settled to and Liz Priddle, the new batter, give her the support that Chatterji had. They were helped as the Cumbrian second and third string bowlers gave away wides at regular intervals (31 in all of the innings!), bowled too many loose deliveries and fielded far too deep; the singles seemed to appear in each over by right.

Steadily the score rose; with two capable batters in scoring freely at 80 plus after 25 overs Scotland was poised to accelerate over the remaining overs and take the game away from Cumbria. Sensing this, however, Marshall and Cloudsdale were returned to the attack. They stemmed the run flow initially but neither Scot seemed troubled. Yet with the score on 83 Cloudsdale got one passed Priddle’s defensive prod and half the Scotland side were back in the hut with a lot still to do.

When Wilkinson’s promising innings was cut short with naïve cricket and an inexplicable shot at 90 Cumbria were well and truly back in it; or would have been but for two very significant factors  - the heat and a certain Leigh Kasperek.

The priority in limited overs cricket has to be to use the full compliment of overs, hopefully with wickets in hand and the runs will surely stack-up. It’s a plan that works over and over again particularly on a hot day and if your side has the batters capable of exploiting the conditions – including the fielding team slowly falling apart.

Kasperek’s style of batting suits these circumstances well, particularly if she has someone at the other end who will support her and is, importantly, fleet of foot!

From 90-6 at 28 overs Scotland lost two further wickets (Wheeler for 13 carelessly run out and Christie caught pushing the score along; sacrifices in the cause) but wracked up a further 92 runs. Kasperek also passed 50 for the second time in three innings; whilst this was an innings crafted in similar circumstances to her first half-century the slightly damp outfield (and ungenerous boundaries!) meant that most of the runs were run! Of her 79 not out only 6 boundaries were scored and she ran 9 times for scores of 2 or more (and 32 singles)!

The net result was the same as in Durham last week though, with three useful partnerships and some exceptional running the total reached by Scotland at tea put the game beyond Cumbria. So it proved to be. Aside from Montgomery (34 not out) the task was beyond the home team from the outset. They had not done themselves any favours in taking 3 hours to bowl their 45 overs in strength and spirit sapping heat and effectively bowling 6 more (31 wides) on a day when the ball did not disappear to the boundary.

Unluckily for Cumbria, after tea the sun disappeared behind clouds and the temperature dropped with a very welcome and cooling breeze but this mattered little since, by contrast, in the field, this Scotland team is not only well lead and marshaled by Lynne Dickson, the eagerness and enthusiasm is superb and driven constantly from all quarters of the field.

Apart from Montgomery’s wickets fell at regular intervals with only one partnership breaking 20 (the last as it turned out); Kasperek, Dickson and Waldie all picked-up a wicket a piece with Wilkinson and Dalgleish grabbing a brace; no one stood out as Dickson wrought the changes at regular intervals to rest her bowlers but also not letting the batters settle.

The ground fielding was again of a high calibre with Lorna Jack not only a live wire behind the timbers but delivering glove work that gave her bowlers confidence and that she has promised to do – the sight of her uprooting off stump (twice, once successfully!) will live long in the memory. The bowling in previous games had lacked both accuracy and penetration, today it did not.

Although there was a dip in intensity midway through the Cumbrian innings the pressure (& chat) never let up throughout – significantly Scotland got through their overs so quickly (31 in 90 minutes) that even if Cumbria had wanted to slow the game down they were not allowed to!   

Match Two - 30 June

A return to Burneside CC for the second of the Cumbria leg of fixtures offered very different fortunes for both Scotland and, indeed, Cumbria who had been thoroughly outplayed in the first game.

Wildcats skipper Lynne Dickson won the toss and, again, chose to bat but this time had the presence of mind to make some changes in the batting order not least to reverse the potentially disastrous chain of early order collapses as to restore some confidence in the team’s batting.

However, although Scotland batted out the overs it was a familiar story at the top of the innings with Chatterji, Wilkinson and Dickson all failing to register significant scores before 20 runs were on the board. Indeed, it was a familiar story throughout the batting order as potentially promising partnerships were terminated early not by exceptional bowling or fielding but poor shot selection and batters neither valuing their wickets nor making the most of scoring opportunities.

Notwithstanding the above, this was another collective performance by an increasingly stronger unit that grafted a win by, in places, sticking to the task at hand – although none of the ‘big guns’ posted scores there was a welcome return to runs by Sam Haggo (top scoring with 24) and Lorna Jack their were very useful contributions from Rebecca Waldie, Liz Priddle and Stacey Christie; the latter pair showing a real appetite for the fight in the closing overs scoring 20 from 3 overs – and never giving-up.

Getting to 115 at the close of the innings seemed unlikely at one point even during the middle overs when Haggo and Jack produced the highest partnership of the innings (and the day), 31 off 6 overs but, if the lessons from yesterday were to be heeded, was more than enough against a much weaker opposition. But cricket is a funny old game (as we are so often reminded) and a more than adequate score can quite often become nowhere near enough; targets regardless of size have to be defended.

So it could have been today but for the way this team operates in the field. Well led as it is and not just by skipper Dickson who, although growing into the role at times seems to have been born to it, everyone takes pride in stifling run scoring opportunities and almost suffocating the batting team into making mistakes. The bowling needed to be more accurate and the fielding sharper than it has been in recent games with such a small total to defend.

And so it was. Although the redoubtable Montgomery offered dogged resistance for the Cumbrians, wickets fell at regular intervals as chances were created and mistakes induced by a Scottish team closing in on the win. Indeed, it was her inability to keep the scoreboard ticking over that became an increasing problem for the home team if they were to even get close to the target.

Dickson has a wealth of bowling to choose from and none of those she called on in the first 28 overs leaked more than 2.5 runs per over and even as late as the 32nd Cumbria had only reached 60 for the loss of 6 wickets.

Kasperek and Priddle opening-up bowled with pace and accuracy; a little more luck on another day and they would have had a hatful of wickets each. How often do we hear that phrase? The pair conceded only 12 runs but the 5th over produced one wicket from a run out (an excellent throw and sharp glovework by Lorna Jack – who improves with every outing). The pressure created in these early overs and the eagerness of the fielders to close down run scoring opportunities lead to the run out.

With the introduction of Wheeler and Wilkinson after 10 overs (and then Waldie at 19) even more pressure was brought to bear on the Cumbrian reply; wickets continued to fall at regular intervals and gradually the game seemed to peter away from Cumbria.

However, never say never in this game. Montgomery’s stout resistance finally bore some fruit when she found a partner capable of staying with her, Though the runs never flowed when she and Georgia Kennedy were in tandem they did produce a partnership of 28 runs (in 11 overs); more a consolidation and an acceptance of the inevitable than a change of fortunes since when Kennedy perished to the effervescent Haggo in the 32nd over the score had crept up to 59.

Enter Lorna Marshall who took a liking to the bowling of Chatterji and Dickson (the latter in particular bludgeoning 15 off her final over) to rekindle Cumbrian hopes – too late surely! Dickson’s final over, however, also produced the wicket of Montgomery, crucially because Marshall lost her foil and Cumbria their rock.

Now needing a run a ball from the remaining 7 overs, Cumbria looked to Marshall to pull of an unlikely victory as she exploited some uncharacteristically nervy bowling and sloppy fielding from Scotland. But Dickson, smartly, reintroduced the excellent and fiery Kasperek and the parsimonious Wheeler to the attack.

Crucially Kasperek refused to let the batters play and also limited Marshall’s opportunities as striker. But for Kasperek’s accuracy the Cumbrian’s could have got home in singles but the pressure mounted and they needed boundaries but none came.

Many teams might crumble at this point but when Wheeler’s reintroduction produced the wicket of Marshall first ball (25 from only 21 balls) the game was surely saved; Cumbria needed 22 from the remaining 15 balls, possible but unlikely. And so it proved to be.

This was a game that could have come down to the time that Marshall remained at the crease, it very nearly did. But whilst they currently seem to lack steel in the batting department, especially when Kasperek doesn’t perform, this Scotland team bowls and fields ‘deep’ and with considerable purpose. In this game it made up for the batting failures another day it might not, yet Scotland were very much stronger than this Cumbrian outfit and over the two games they proved it to be so.

Coaching Team Kari Anderson & Neil Cameron were sanguine at the end: ‘Hey a wins a win let’s not lose sight of that! Again we fielded – for the most part – as well as we have done these past two weeks, we certainly bowled them out of this (and yesterday’s) game but we do need to build partnerships and our top order needs to perform regularly. There is still a long way to go in this competition but we have already performed beyond expectations.’

So on to Yorkshire for two more games; with three wins from 4 games (and 4 remaining in the ECB CAG Under-17s Championship), two more wins could secure a runners-up birth and a place in the quarter finals.