AFTER a very wet Saturday, it was pleasing to see the wicket was in good condition for Huntley’s 35-over league match against Frocester.

Winning the toss, captain Lara Foot decided to put her team in to bat with a view to putting a good score on the board. 

Despite a steady start, Huntley lost two wickets in the fifth over when Hannah Pritchard first trapped Lynne McAlpine lbw for seven and then bowled Katie Foot for eight.

But then a 60 run partnership between Lara Foot and Gemma Abbot took Huntley to 79 before Gem was bowled on 23 in an innings that included three fours, scored at a good pace.

Next in to bat was Kate Woolway, joining Lara confidently for 12 overs before being bowled by Maddy Tuck for eight, Huntley were 111 for 4 after 26 overs.

Kay Moore then partnered well with Lara – the scorer struggling to tell them apart – with another 34 runs added to the total before Kay was bowled on 15, bringing in Fran Cinderey for the last 10 balls, to take Huntley to 152-5.

Lara Foot finished on a career high 55 not out, batting for nearly two hours and navigating the team to a strong position in tricky conditions.

After another well-presented cricket tea, put together by the players - and a quick check on the Wimbledon tennis final – the players, and umpires, returned to the field.

Taking a rest after her batting exploits, Lara Foot put sister Katie and Gem Abbott into the opening attack, which proved effective with Katie bowling Stacey Phillips in the first over and then Gem caught and bowled Maddy Tuck in the fourth.

Katie took a second wicket, bowling Rachel Kavanagh for seventh  over and Frocester were reeling on 14-3.

But credit to Frocester, and the partnership of Captain Denise Holder and Rhian Evans who added an impressive 51 runs before Katie took a solid catch off the bowling of Gemma to remove Denise on 15.

Another caught and bowled from Gemma, this time taking out Mary Hodges, helped swing the match back in Huntley’s favour. 

When Katie took the sixth wicket of the match in the next over –bowling Amy Lloyd Jones –  it felt like victory was close at hand.

Fran was superb with the gloves dealing with pace bowling in windy conditions, and the whole team worked cohesively in the field, backing each other up well.

Some good bowling from May Kemp, with an economy of 4.00, was rewarded when she caught and  bowled Hannah Pritchard in the 22nd over, Frocester now on 75-7.

Recovered after her earlier batting exploits, Lara Foot looked to close out the match, first bowling A Tuck and then taking the final wicket, of Rhian Evans who finished on an impressive 43 from 59 balls. Lara finished with an economy of 1.78 to round off a great personal performance.

Katie finished with 3-22 from her 7 overs, Gemma ended with 3-15 in an error free set of 7 overs.

Huntley won by 58 runs and picked up eight bonus points into the bargain.