17/06/2026
MATCH REPORTS ✍🏻
Ruardean Hill Women had two hardball matches last week – a Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation T20 league game on Wednesday and a pairs fixture on Sunday.
NEWENT 🚗
On a sunny Wednesday evening in Newent, the home team chose to bat first. This was something of a surprise, given that they had been bowled out for 43 in the reverse fixture, but the wisdom of the decision soon became apparent. Despite an excellent, probing spell from Samantha (0-16), the openers held firm and slowly but surely got their eye in. Captain Kay (1-6) shuffled the pack, making numerous bowling changes in the hope of a breakthrough. Eventually, she turned to her last resort – herself, and duly took a wicket second ball to end a fine opening stand of 66.
Newent reached the 15-over mark with 85 runs on the board. This already represented a league best for them, but with only one wicket lost, they hoped to boost this total by a significant margin in the last quarter of the innings. The brakes were applied by Joss (1-24), who removed the Newent number one with a turner edged through to the safe hands of Francesca, and Iona (1-8), who trapped the new batter lbw, but some big shots in the last few deliveries took the final score past three figures.
With the light beginning to fade, scoring 106 to win looked like a tricky proposition. So it proved. A well-set leg side field and canny bowling made boundaries hard to come by. In her attempt to force the issue, Donna mistimed a sweep and was duly bowled.
Iona batted positively for a run-a-ball 13, hitting a brace of fours before losing her off stump searching for a third. When Kay (12) – unusually subdued – became the third (bowled) wicket to fall, RHCC required a further 44 runs to win with 48 balls remaining.
Anyone who has watched Kelly (21) play cricket knows she loves a quick single, whereas big-hitting Leigh (17*) is quite happy to deal exclusively in boundaries. This cricketing odd couple combined to (literally) breathtaking effect, the former taking charge (again, literally) as they added a brilliant 36 together at quicker than a run a ball.
With the finish line in sight, Kelly was adjudged lbw, bringing her brilliant cameo to a close. This ushered Jenni Brims to the crease. 8 runs required from 13 balls - what a moment to make your competitive hardball batting bow!
What happened next was cricket at its best: High drama.
Trying to end the game in a hurry, Jen’s first run scoring attempt was a swing and a miss. 8 needed off 12. The opening bowlers then came back on to conclude the match.
A single for Leigh was followed by a wide. 6 needed off 11.
Three full-length deliveries outside off stump, countered by three big swings from Jen, all produced the same result: No runs and no wickets. 6 needed off 8.
Leigh – having watched this from the non-striker’s end – was now primed to run for anything. The next ball was on the stumps, but Jen managed to get bat on ball, and looked up to find Leigh halfway down the wicket, shouting “RUN!”. Jen duly did, but the midwicket fielder cleanly collected the ball and threw at the non-striker’s end. A direct hit would have resulted in a run out; a near miss with no-one backing up, however, resulted in a second run. 4 needed off 7.
The final ball of the over was a short one that brushed Jen’s glove, narrowly avoided the keeper and travelled down to fine leg for a single. 3 needed off 6 (and new fingernails required for the RHCC captain).
The final over started with two well-directed deliveries, resulting in dot balls. The third was a yorker. Jen managed to dig this out, and the ball squirted out towards square leg, meaning Leigh was able to scramble through for a single. 2 needed off 3.
Leigh, attempting to win the game in one hit, took a big swing at the next ball…but missed. 2 needed off 2.
The young Newent bowler (who to that point had held her nerve brilliantly in a high-pressure situation) then sent the ball down the leg side for a wide to tie the scores. She quickly regained her composure, however, bowling another dot ball to leave 1 run required from the final ball of the match.
Leigh’s instructions to Jen at this point were “Just run, even if I miss it”. An attempted yorker ended up being a low full toss. Leigh made a good connection but hit the ball straight to the midwicket fielder, who immediately threw the ball to the keeper. Fortunately for RHCC, Jen had followed her brief, and made it home to give her team a win by 6 wickets, but the barest of margins.
An enthralling end to a highly entertaining game. Newent may be new to hardball, but have the talent to cause teams plenty of problems – as Kay and co can testify!
QUEDGELEY & HARDWICKE 🚗
Sunday saw the hardball pairs team travel to Quedgeley & Hardwicke. For the second time in 4 days, Kay called incorrectly at the toss. On this occasion, RHCC were asked to bat first.
Millie and Sam got RHCC off a good start, nudging the ball into gaps and running well between the wickets. Sam was bowled with only a couple of balls remaining of their time at the crease, but Millie compensated for that by hitting the next ball for four to take the score to 28 for 1 after 4 overs.
Just a few balls into her innings, Leigh hit a short-pitched delivery straight into the hands of midwicket. Once again though, excellent communication and good placement by the batters kept the scoreboard ticking over and at the halfway stage, 55 for 2 represented a decent platform.
After a couple of overs to bed herself in, Joss went on the offensive, hitting 3 fours on her way to a quickfire 21. Fran provided excellent support at the other end as the pair added 42 runs for 0 in 24 balls.
Kay (10) and Iona (15) kept up the momentum in the last four overs, both hitting boundaries on their way to a partnership of 39. The wicket of the skipper – run out by a direct hit – did little to dampen RHCC spirits, as a total of 136 for 3 represented a daunting target for the home team to chase down in only 16 overs.
5 runs are awarded to the bowling team for every wicket taken. Q&H’s openers, knowing they were effectively starting on 15 for 0, steadily compiled an additional risk-free 26 runs to leave their team in a good position at the changeover. A steady flow of runs was still required though, and with Millie (2-10), Sam (1-14), Jen and Leigh all bowling accurate sets of 6, the pressure told on Q&H’s second pair. 3 wickets fell in quick succession, two bowled (by Millie and Sam, the latter delivering a wicket-maiden) and a direct-hit run out for Kay to avenge her earlier dismissal.
This burst of breakthroughs (with 15 runs added to RHCC’s total for wickets taken) proved to be the key passage of the match. Q&H managed to get to the end of the 12th over without losing any more wickets, but a deficit of 72 runs (and a target that would only increase in size if further wickets were lost). The final two batters swung hard, but with the bowling and fielding on point – as it had been throughout the innings – RHCC took 3 more wickets (another bowled dismissal for Millie, and Joss working in tandem with Kay and Millie to perform 2 run outs) to take the win by a margin of 62 net runs.
A successful week for the women’s section – a nail biter, followed by a slightly more comfortable victory – and plenty of fun had with two very friendly opponents. Thank you for the hospitality and well played to all. Up the Hill! 🏏
