Over Labour Weekend, the North Otago u19 Women's cricket team took part in the the Otago Districts Tournament, against teams from Dunedin, Otago Country and Southland. A 13-person team was named, with 9 of the players from Waitaki Girls' High School

Charlotte Lane and Georgia Stewart were debuting for North Otago, certainly thrown in at the deep end as Year 9's up against a lot of Year 12 and 13's. As always with cricket at Labour Weekend, the weather intervened and the team could only play 2 of the scheduled 3 matches, but they still came away with some excellent individual performances and the team's best performance at the Tournament in memory. Saturday 24 October: Dunedin u19 Women 184/8 (Phoebe Dundass 3 wickets for 20) defeated North Otago u19 Women 106/10 (Alice Petrie 15; Emma Fox 18)

* Dunedin are a very strong team with outstanding cricket skills, several of their players are in Otago and New Zealand age-group squads, but this was a more competitive showing than usual for North Otago

* Phoebe Dundass got the team off to a flying start. Bowling in tandem with Molly Loe (North Otago's current member of the Sparks), Phoebe took 1 for 9 in her opening 4 overs, clean-bowling their opener (who is also a member of the Otago u19 Women's team) and ended the match with excellent figures of 6 overs, 1 maiden, 3 wickets for 20.

* North Otago's fielding was noticeably improved at this tournament, with a number of sharp chances taken. In this innings, a highlight was Emma Meikle holding onto an excellent catch at point, from a full blooded drive off Molly's bowling. 

* Batting was hard work against a fast, accurate and disciplined bowling attack. Alice scored a solid 15 opening the batting, while Emma Fox had the 2nd top score with 18, at an excellent strike rate of 56.Sunday 25 October. Otago Country 117/10 (Emma Meikle 3/10; Phoebe Dundass 2/19) lost to North Otago 118/3

* This was the first win in memory for North Otago at this tournament, and it was done in style against one of the stronger teams.

* Alice Petrie was Captain for the match, and set excellent fields and rotated her bowlers very shrewdly. Having won the toss she sent in Otago Country to bat, to make best use of North Otago's strength in bowling and fielding

* Emma Meikle set the tone in her opening spell, dismissing 3 of the opposition's top batters for just 8 runs in 4 overs, placing North Otago on top straight away. 2 of her wickets were members of the Otago Under 19 Women's team, and she ended with 6 overs, 1 maiden, 3 for 10, with no extras. 

* Phoebe continued bowling full and straight and both her wickets were LBW, to end with 3.2 overs, 2 for 19.

* Emma Fox bowled 1st change and kept the pressure on with a miserly spell of 4 overs, 0 for 14. 

* Once again fielding was a strength, with Alice, Micayla and Emma Fox holding onto sharp chances, Phoebe effecting an excellent run-out, while the girls' ground fielding was again saving runs and growing pressure.

* Charlotte Lane made her debut, bowling 2 tidy overs against some big hitters. She will be a key bowler for the team in future, her trampolining training showing in an excellent run-up that generates some pace with the ball.

* When it came time to bat, North Otago made almost nerveless work of the chase, getting to the target in only 22 overs for just 3 wickets. Of note was Georgia Stewart, on debut, coming in at 5 and being unbeaten at the end on 6, sharing in a partnership of 35 and hitting the winning run. Unfortunately this is the last formally organised rep cricket for the team, but we are looking at unofficial options for matches against other regions.

WGHS has a growing number of female cricketers and an arrangement with Valley Cricket Club to form all-girl teams. We practice on Wednesdays, 4pm-5pm at Waitaki Boys and any WGHS student is most welcome, even if they aren't playing Club Cricket. We have a great bunch of girls, if you want to know more just talk to one of the team.