Cricketing lesson from Australia

Well, I think it's fair to say that we came second. Now coming second to the Aussies is not a bad thing in any sport. We approached the game with our own goals and agendas and, to be honest, for the most part we stuck to them. Lenny was ruled out again with injury, a massive blow to the side. So I found myself opening again wiht Ceil - it was quite a Merrion affair.

I faced the legendary Fitzy (Catherine Fitzpatrick, the fastest bowler in the woman's game) for the first time and loved it. Ceil (8) an dI (10) got off to a good start and were contemplating roofing and hooking Fitzy but found forward defence the best tactic. That was of course until Ceil cut her through the covers, and we decided that that would also do. We found that we could attack Smith at the other end and continued ticking over the run rate. When chancing a quick single I found myself "accidentally" smashed on the arse (show no pain, show no pain) by a ball flying in from non-other than Fitzy and in reply I then hit the shot of my career and absolutely smashed Smith down the ground for 4, her face was priceless. I was then out LBW by Fitzy and Beggsy came in. Ceil followed a short time later to another LBW by Smith. Mimms came in and played lovely shots for her 21.

The depth of hte Australian bowling attack is incredible. We lost Beggsy after she had been yorked on her foot. Shillers came in and played as Shillers does best...no mercy. There were some great shots (unfortunately most being stopped by some great fielding displays) and before being bowled by Sthalekar scored 9. After that the bowling attack proved too much and we only scored 66. The Aussies gave us what could only be described as a batting lesson and scored the runs in 14 overs. But let's be honest we're not exactly coming from the same playing fields.