First festival of the year

A freezing and windswept Valley End Cricket Club was the location for the first match of the season. The SMASH IT Festival is an 8-a-side pairs format and the girls had round robin matches against Ashtead and Valley End.

First up was Ashtead and their opener thrashed the first ball over mid-wicket for 6 which set the tone for the innings. The girls bowled and fielded well against some aggressive batting - highlights included Bonnie making a brilliant boundary save at fine leg and Ellie throwing down the stumps from a ridiculously tight angle. Ashtead ended up scoring 307.

Ashtead served up a pretty mixed bag of bowling - some fast and straight, some fast and wild and all the girls had to really dig in. Each of the pairs contributed well with Izzy and Bluebell hitting boundaries and Zoe hitting a big six over long on. In the end the girls scored 246 but it was a great effort.

The second match against Valley End was much closer. Winning the toss Weybridge batted first and scored an respectable 276 - with all of the pairs getting into double figures. In the field the work continued to be excellent with another two direct hit run outs and some great bowling including Poppy taking a first ball wicket and Tahlia only conceding 2 runs off her last over - which was the most economical of any team. With one over left, Valley End needed 15 runs to win but a combination of tight bowling from Daisy and great fielding from the team they only scored 8 giving the girls their first win of the season.

The points system meant that they didn't progress to the finals. But (despite the baltic conditions) the girls all played really well and it was great to see them out having fun again. Thanks to Rob for umpiring and all the parents for the support.