Vicki Howard won the toss and asked Purley to bat.

An opening spell from Sophie Daniels of 3 overs for just 7 runs set the scene for fellow opening bowler Naomi Saunders to get an early breakthrough having Jess Kelly (2) lbw to see Purley at 12-1 in the 4th over.

A bowling change for the 7th over saw Alexa Johnson take a wicket in her 1st over, bowling Caroline Handley (4) with Purley now 24-2. This became 24-3 in the 8th over as Naomi Saunders (5-2-12-2) got her 2nd wicket, also lbw, getting Aashvi Sawant out for 8.

Tight bowling from Naomi & Alexa kept the brakes on Purley who had reached 40 runs after 13 overs. The next 4 overs (14-17) however saw Purley double their score to 80, although in the process they lost another wicket when Alexa Johnson got her 2nd wicket (5-1-22-2) when Melody Reader caught Clare Hunt (25) for 59-4.

Betsy Pollock celebrated her birthday getting a wicket (4-1-16-1) having Joyce Higgins (5) caught to see Purley at 80-5 in the 18th over. Next over Kavya Panchal joined the wicket takers (3-0-18-1) having Arabella Harper (0) caught by Naomi Saunders and Purley were 85-6. Kavya almost got her 2nd wicket when top scoring opposition Captain Sinder Sembi was bowled, but unfortunately to a no ball.

Purley fought back with a partnership between captain Sinder Sembi (27no) and youngster Holly Cooper (11) as Melody Reader (4-0-22-0) & Georgia Waine (2-0-18-0) tried to stem the flow of runs. The Purley partnership took the score onto 130 into the last over when Sophie Daniels (4-0-9-2) returned to have Holly Cooper lbw (130-7) and then clean bowling Georgina Waghorn (0) as the Purley innings ended on 135-8 after 27 of the 30 overs.

Of the 135 runs, there were 18 byes/leg byes, 8 no balls and 27 wides leaving 82 directly from the bat.

After the usual ample supply of sustenance it was the Llamas turn to bat with openers Alexa Johnson and Naomi Saunders getting 8 from the 1st over. The 2nd over saw 2 dropped catches before Naomi Saunders (8) was bowled by Sinder Sembi who in the same over also bowled Bronwyn Tharp (2) and the Llamas were 13-2 after 2 overs.

Betsey Pollock joined Alexa Johnson and the run rate continued to flourish as the Llamas went to 47-3 when in the 7th over Alexa Johnson was caught by Arabella Harper from the bowling of Jess Kelly. Alexa having scored 25 runs from 18 deliveries with 4 boundaries.
Betsey Pollock (12) was out next getting a very thin edge to be caught by keeper Caroline Handley for Jess Kelly’s 2nd wicket (5-0-21-2) to leave Reigate at 61-4 in the 11th over. With 10 runs added in the next 5 overs this became 71-5 in the 16th over as Sophie Daniels was run out when she called for a 2nd run.

The inexperienced youngster Kavya Panchal was joined at the crease by the more experienced Captain Vicki Howard and a 44 run partnership followed with Kavya contributing 15 and Vicki 25 ...& 4 extras. Purley’s leg spinning duo of Clare Hunt (4-0-19-0) & youngster Georgina Waghorn (3-0-17-0) didn’t breakthrough but the partnership ended when Arabella Harper (4-0-28-1) bowled Kavya for 16 as the Llamas lost their 6th wicket with the score now on 115 in the 24th over.

With the target 21 runs away at 136 and 6 overs left this match was evenly poised as Purley only needed 2 wickets. The game looked to be going in Reigate’s favour as Vicki steered the Llamas towards their target aided by 2 fours from Melody Reader. The Llamas reached 127 in the 28th over when Melody (9) was bowled by Aashvi Sawant (6-1-10-1) to leave the game on a knife edge with just one wicket in hand and 9 runs to win and to add to the drama an injured Vicki required a runner.

Georgia Waine played out 4 balls to finish off the 28th over. Vicki then hit a four from the 1st ball of the penultimate over followed by a single to take the Llamas onto 132 when the next ball bowled by Sinder Sembi (6.3-0-31-3) managed to miss the bat and pads of Georgia but alas not the wicket the Llamas fell short by just 3 runs leaving Vicki stranded on 33 no scored at almost a run a ball.

The usual maximum overs per bowler is 20% of the innings so for example in a 40 over game it would be 8 overs and in a 35 over game it would be 7 overs and in a 30 over game it might be expected to be 6 overs. However in the absence of playing conditions it was agreed before the game started that it would be 7 overs maximum which was to prove crucial with Sinder taking the final wicket in her 7th over.

Of the 132 Reigate runs, there were 6 byes/leg byes, 0 no balls and just 6 wides leaving 120 directly from the bat versus just 82 from the bat in the Purley innings.

Although frustrated at having got within 3 runs there are positives to take from what was an enjoyable game with a tight finish with 5 of the Llamas reaching double figures with the bat and 7 Llama bowlers used, with 4 getting wickets; although the number of wides will no doubt be addressed at the next practice session !