Pupils return to cricket fields after half-term break.

U9 Girls’ Cricket vs Blue Coat

On Tuesday afternoon, the U9 girls travelled to The Blue Coat School in Birmingham for their cricket fixtures. Mr Hodgkins’s team started brightly, despite the heavy downpour of rain. Batting first, Florrie and Rosie opened the innings in a positive style, with several strong shots to the leg-side and impressive communication whilst running between the wickets. This pattern was continued by Zara and Indie before Daisy and Maysie used quick thinking and game intelligence to make the most of mis-fields by adding several byes to complement the runs that they scored off the bat. Adelyn and Charlotte demonstrated fantastic timing and power throughout their batting overs, which resulted in them managing to score an impressive nineteen runs off their three overs. Jasmine and Florrie then finished the innings with some more excellent running despite facing accurate and challenging deliveries from the Blue Coat bowlers.

The girls were eager to get their bowling innings underway and were determined to protect the target that they had set for the Blue Coat batters. Pleasingly, the Hawford bowlers demonstrated superb levels of accuracy and consistency with their bowling, although Blue Coat possessed several strong batters in their line up and were able to score runs at a good rate. The first breakthrough came in the third over when Charlotte managed to take a wicket. She quickly followed this up with a second just two balls later. Blue Coat managed to steady the ship in the middle overs and took advantage of some loose fielding to turn singles into twos and threes. Florrie then bowled an outstanding second over, in which she took two wickets. This was the spark for a late flurry of wickets which included Jasmine and Zara both picking up two wickets each in the final two overs of the match. It was a very enjoyable and entertaining match in which Daisy was voted as Player of the Match for her accurate, consistent and threatening bowling.

 

U9 Girls’ Cricket vs Blue Coat

On Tuesday, Miss Holtham took a team of U9 girls to Blue Coat School for a cricket fixture; the weather hadn’t been great, so it was decided before we arrived to play the matches on the astro. Once our matches started, the rain decided to pour down, drenching everyone, but this didn’t stop play and the girls carried on showing great determination. Valerie was our team captain for the afternoon, and she put in a brilliant performance on the pitch, her fielding was brilliant, and she even managed to take a wicket from great fielding. The opposition choose Valerie as their Bowler of the Match and Ruby was chosen as their Batter of the Match. The girls played well and we were good at making the right  decision when to run; they showed great team work in their batting pairs. Our fielding decisions were not as good as our batting, and this meant Blue Coat managed to take the win; this has given the girls something to work on for their next fixture.

 

U10 & U11 Boys’ Cricket v Bromsgrove School

On Wednesday afternoon, Bromsgrove School played hosts to the King’s Hawford Mixed U10 and U11 Boys’ Cricket Teams. Mr Hodgkins’s team lost the toss and were asked to field first. The boys worked really hard throughout their overs, demonstrating increased accuracy, speed and consistency with each ball bowled. The middle overs were especially profitable, with wickets falling off the bowling of Harry, Teddy, Arthur O, Sam and Finn, including an excellent catch from Ollie. The pick of the bowlers was Arthur A, who was extremely economical throughout and also picked up a valuable wicket in the 17^th over. Arthur was later voted Player of the Match for his efforts. Thomas and Teddy both played their parts with excellent performances behind the stumps which included a superb reaction catch from Teddy off the bowling of Arthur O.

The King’s Hawford boys were up against it in their batting innings. It soon became clear that Bromsgrove possessed a lot of pace in their bowling attack and were also energetic and vocal in the field. Chasing a challenging total, Ollie and Thomas attempted to take the game to the bowlers in the early overs with some positive intent. This had mixed results with the pair managing to score twenty three runs between them for the loss of four wickets. Arthur A and Arthur O then steadied the ship with a more conservative batting display in which they avoided losing any wickets and were able to add a further twenty-one runs to the total. George and Teddy worked hard at the crease and, once they got their eye in, were able to score several valuable runs that included two impressive Fours in a total of twenty-one runs. Despite this, we were still some way off the projected target and so Palmer and Sam were forced to take several risks in an attempt to up the run-rate. Despite striking the ball well, again finding the boundary rope, this positive intent led to three run-outs through the quick thinking of the Bromsgrove wicketkeeper. Harry and Finn then finished the innings in fine style, keeping their wickets and racking up a further nineteen runs that included a sublime cut shot for Four from Finn as well as a power strike from Harry off the last ball of the match that flew over the top of midwicket’s head.

 

U10/U11 Girls’ Cricket v Bromsgrove School

With sunny skies and warmer weather, a combined team of Years Five and Six ladies took to the cricket fields of King’s Hawford to face Bromsgrove School. The game showcased how hard all have been working and every member of the team played with incredible skill and sportsmanship.

Even with the ladies’ spirited efforts, our team faced tough opposition but, in true King’s Hawford style, we battled through with resilience and camaraderie. The match was a testament to the players’ dedication and teamwork, displaying superb performances with bat and ball. Olivia G, Mary W and Ava H had some outstanding wickets, Sienna’s quick reactions reduced runs being scored, and Iza and Thea demonstrated strength in their deep-fielding throws. When it came to batting, King’s were chasing a score of 354. Every single batting pair scored over 20 runs, with Annabel and Robyn scoring an incredible 46 runs between them. Pip K and Iza played some lovely defensive shots and managed to score some quick runs due to mis-fielding from Bromsgrove.

Battling brilliantly and remaining focussed, King’s Hawford left the field with heads high, demonstrating the true spirit of cricket.

Fielder of the Match was awarded to Olivia G.

Player of the Match, with strength in fielding and bowling, was awarded to Ava H.

Bowler of the Match was awarded to Mary W.

 

U10/U11 Girls’ Cricket v Bromsgrove School

On Wednesday, Miss Holtham’s  mixed team of U10 and U11 girls took part in a cricket match at home against Bromsgrove on the bottom field,  The girls played well together and showed they had been working on their batting technique; it was good to see the girls working well in their pairs, showing great communication. Bella W was the team captain, coaching her team well throughout; she also showed good bowling technique on target and her fielding was exceptional: she really did work hard.  The opposition choose Ava I as their Batter of the Match and Chloe S was given their award of Bowler of the Match.  Overall, the girls worked really hard, and it was great to see the improvement they had made since Miss Holtham had last seen them play.

 

U10/U11 Girls’ Cricket v Bromsgrove School

On Wednesday, Miss Lake’s U10 and U11 cricket team faced a lively team from Bromsgrove Prep. Bromsgrove’s skipper chose for them to bat first, meaning we had the advantage of knowing how many to chase after the first innings. The boys fielded brilliantly and the bowling accuracy from every boy has most definitely improved over the season, with Oscar and Will H bowling the opposition out. Quick decision-making when fielding allowed for Barnaby and Leighton to stump the opposition out when wicket-keeping. Chasing 110, Leighton and Oscar rose to the challenge brilliantly, scoring seven fours within the first three overs. Excellent batting from all allowed us to reach the target after twelve overs, with two batting pairs left to play. Nayel secured the victory with three fours in the fifteenth over of the game, with the boys finishing on 164. All of the boys played brilliantly. Bromsgrove awarded skipper, Leighton, player of the match for his superb batting and Miss Lake’s star player went to Oscar for his focus, determination and batting.