The U15’s season opener at Harpsden last night proved to be an absolute thriller. Henley batting first raced away with Saru, Athyantha and Martha getting the scoreboard into the 80s in no time at all. Sensing an easy victory I naively retired both Martha and Athyantha when they reached 30 not out (I now know the rule is 50 - sorry) but I knew we batted deep. A lucky direct hit to the stumps saw an in-form Avani run out for 5 and then it was up to our young recruits of Georgie (U13), Rosie (U11) and Hayley (U13) to keep the score ticking over which they did beautifully with the support of Niamh. After 20 overs we reached what looked like a comfortable match winning 135. A confident Henley team took to the field and when the Finchampstead opener was run out by a direct hit by Niamh it looked like we would be home early. Unfortunately, the Finchampstead girls had other ideas and dug in. Helped by a few too many wides they raced to 47/1 off 6 overs. A caught and bowled by Niamh and then Hayley clean bowling their number 3 slowed the chase but after 10 overs they were 78/3, needing 57 from 10 overs. Wickets from Martha and another from Niamh all helped but they kept adding runs and with 4 overs remaining they needed just 22 runs with 2 wickets remaining. A tight 17th over from Saru, which only conceded 4 runs (2 of which was a tough wide call), left them needing 18 off 18. Helped by a faultless Rosie behind the stumps Georgie nailed the 18th over which only conceded one run – 17 required off 12. Captain Athyantha bowled the 19th which went for 4 runs but included a fantastic caught and bowled after the ball was driven to her at head height. With one over to go and the light rapidly fading Finchampstead needed 13 runs to win with one wicket remaining, up stepped Georgie (aka nerves of steel) from the U13s. Two singles and then a near run out which saw a direct hit to the stumps and the ball ricocheting towards the boundary added to the drama. With three balls remaining Finchampstead need 6 runs to draw. The following dot ball was received with cheers from the girls and shouts of ‘you got this Georgie’ and ‘wicket ball’ which proved correct as she then clean bowled their tailender. PHEW. Quote of the match “I thought they would be bowling faster than that” – wicket keeper Rosie from the U11s keeping for the U15s for the first time.