On the 11th of March 2021 the Waitaki Girls’ High School cricket team went down to Dunedin to play round two of the Otago Secondary Schools Girls Gillette Venus Cup Cricket.

A full team of 11 Waitakians met their Otago Girls’ High School opposition at Bayfield park for their Twenty, Twenty match.

We started by winning the toss and deciding to bowl first. Our opening bowlers were Emily Mavor and Alice Petrie, which were a very good first up team putting a lot of pressure on the opening batswomen from the start. Alice Petrie took the first wicket after her first three balls, bowling one of the openers and getting the Waitaki rather excited and energetic. We continued to steadily gain wickets throughout the 20 overs, and restricted Otago Girls’ to only 110 runs for eight wickets.

Emily Mavor bowled one wicket, for 20 runs off four overs. Alice Petrie, two wickets, for 18 runs of 4 overs. Charlotte Lane one wicket, 18 runs off two overs. Isabella Martin zero wickets, for 16 runs off three overs. Mya Nicol, a new addition to the team, zero wickets, for 12 runs off three overs. Emma Fox bowled for three wickets, for 23 runs off four overs. A big shout out to Emma Fox and Mya Nicol for being the wicket keepers.

Initially we thought as a team that if we just take our time and work through all twenty overs we will be able to reach the target. Unfortunately it wasn’t our day for batting. We started with our opening partnership of Alice Petrie and Isabella Martin, but due to some quick loses for not a lot of runs, the pressure was definitely building on the team. We got into a bit of a groove with the partnership of Emma Fox and Emily Mavor who made a good start together, but sadly it just quite couldn’t last. Top score was Emma Fox with 19, Emily Mavor got 16 and Mya Nicol got five runs. Waitaki Girls’ High School was all out for 69 off 18.4 overs.

We were very proud of our three new cricket players who made their debut for the Waitaki team, Sarah Jamison, Mya Nicol and Holly Horn. Some last minute additions who provided a lot of good chat and laughs for the team.

We would like to thank Mrs (Sonia) Hudson for taking the time out of school to take the girls down Dunedin and for stepping in to be the coach. Otago Cricket for scoring and organising the game. St Hilda's for coming and supporting us. Old girl Emma Paton and Mrs Paton for coming and watching us again. Beside the cold wind, it was a fun day out with the Waitaki Girls’ cricket team, especially seeing the younger and newer girls talent coming through.