GIRLS’ SPORTS REPORTS 21/04/14

ROUNDERS

U14 Won 16 ½ – 10 ½
The U14’s were first to bat and, lead by Bell, they opened up with a strong start. Great hits and accuracy allowed Sedbergh to score 8 runs in the first innings which Durham could not match due to the superb team fielding that Sedbergh displayed.

The 2nd innings saw Bell and Haywood scoring 8 ½ rounder’s between them. Bell was the last batsman in and, even though tired, managed to score a couple of full rounder’s single handily. Durham managed to score a few half rounder’s but again Sedbergh caught high balls and stumped out players with ease. The final score was 16 ½ – 10 1/2. Man of the Match Polly Bell.

2nd XI won 12 – 1 1/2
A strong performance in a match where everybody contributed to scoring and fielding. Excellent partner ship between Georgina Mccutcheon, Ella Dennison and Captain Mollie Richmond, saw many of the opposing team being stumped out at first base. Zahara Mortimer and super sub Georgia Thomas piled on the rounders at the end of the 2nd innings to round off a convincing first win of the rounders term. Well played everyone!

GIRLS FIVES AT THE NATIONALS

Expectations were high going into the Schoolgirls’ National tournament at Marlborough College, but unfortunately a lack of match experience was to see the girls performing slightly below their best, with the pressure causing an uncharacteristically large number of unforced errors.

In the U18 competition, Steph Gardner and Anna Marland were unable to progress beyond the group stages of the singles, but saved their best play for the doubles, where they did really well to reach the Plate final, eventually losing 11-3 to Christ’s Hospital. 

Emily MacMillan and Abigail Quigley both tasted a mixture of victory and defeat in the U16 singles and doubles, playing fantastic shots when the ball sat up nicely for them, but finding themselves less successful when their opponent moved them around the court. 

Rose Arnold found herself in the ‘group of death’, with some questionable seeding meaning that three of the top players found themselves in the same pool. Rose played a powerful girl from Rugby first and jut didn’t get herself going in time, eventually losing 11-8 in a high quality match.

A comfortable victory in her next match left her needing to best a strong player from Malvern to progress; again a slow start meant that she missed out, losing 11-6. She will return for another tilt at the U16 title next year; the experience she has gained here will prove invaluable. 

Fern Nuttall qualified for the Cup quarter finals and was looking more confident and assured on court with every game. Despite going 6-3 up, and serving really well, she was ultimately unable to push on to victory, eventually losing 11-8 in a high quality match. 

Fern and Rose took a while to get going in the doubles but again played with increasing confidence as the day progressed. A poor performance early in the group stages left them unable to reach the Cup final, but after that they played well to finish fourth overall (in a rather odd group format). Fern will also still be an U16 next year, so will be able to join up with Rose for another tilt at the doubles title. 

The girls did really well overall considering that this was the National tournament and they have only been playing for six months. Roll on next year!

U15 TENNIS

The rain stopped just in time for the first U15 fixture. In the first innings a fast efficient Durham team scored 7 rounders to our 4. However the second innings saw the team wake up, with great performances, both in the field and with the bat, from Eliza Twiddle, Amy Mahon and Cheza Millar. Despite a determined second innings we lost 15-10.5.