Positively Positive

We are absolutely positive that Fleckney are up for the cup.

Last year we travelled to Bharat Sports and they ran away with it on a hot evening in Leicester, this year they travelled to us, and it was a lot closer.

We batted first, Rachel and Sarah going out as a new partnership - facing the best bowlers in the opposition but they stuck to their task admirably with lots of positive intent and some good running between the wickets.

The 2 Kays came next - Katharine and Katie, yet more positive running, before the middle over was complete with Jodie and Linda doing more positive cricket, trying to keep the strike ticking over against more decent bowling. Their was some positive biffing towards the end of the innings through Lucy (still our record run scorer, no mention of anything else...) and Jo.

Rachel (16) and Lucy (19) were the top scorers.

In reply, we knew that we had to bowl positively, field positively and be positively positive.

And we contained - Katie opening up and bowling well without reward. Strong in the field from Lucy with 2 run-outs, Linda creating absolute mayhem and picking up her best bowling figures of 3-25 from her 3 overs. 1 caught and bowled that can be described as okay, the other being described as positively awesome - the ball smashed towards her, the umpire diving for cover, Linda leapt like a salmon and poached the ball before landing with poise and grace and most importantly, the ball still clutched between hands.

As Bharat upped the tempo both Rachel and Jo picked up a wicket, but sadly, however Bharat managed to finish 17 runs ahead,

But there are plenty of positives to take. Katie continues to bowl well, Linda causing chaos, Lucy now has 15 fielding dismissals and moved past 100 runs for the season - as did Rachel. Jodie moved past 50 for the season and continues to be a very strong and capable keeper. Jo is Mrs Reliable - bowling that tricky 4th over, picking up wickets every 16 balls this season and also doing her stuff with the bat. Katharine offers composure with the bat in hand and always offers plenty of singles with whoever she bats with and Sarah continues to improve both batting and fielding.

The future is bright. I am positive of this.

Huge thanks to Jan for selflessly giving up her evening to come and score, to Scott for umpiring, for Matt, Jimmy and Len for offering whit, wisdom and helping to close the ground down after the finish.