Final presentation and the end

On the last evening, we all gathered after dinner for the final awards, which was a happy, quiet evening as we celebrated our success and progress:

Match 1:
Player's player: Emilia
Champagne moment: Gerogia B's run out

Match 2:
Player's player: Georgia H
Champagne moment: Abii's 4

Match 3:
Player's player: Georgia B
Champagne moment: Esme's heroic 'body behind the line' fielding

Match 4:
Player's player: Miranda
Champagne moment: Emilia's almost run-out

Match 5:
Player's player: Kim
Champagne moment: Miranda's incredible catch

Tour overall:




Best fielder: Esme
Best batter: Emilia
Best bowler: Jacqui
Supporter's player: Kim
Player's player: Emilia
Champagne moment: Strody's captaincy

 We all want to thank everyone who helped to make this happen - Andrea, Strody, Matt and Gary for scoring, Tim for coaching, to all the supporters and helpers and those that donated and cheered us on. We had the time of our lives and are all better cricketers because of it.

And, the icing on the cake - all our baggage arrived in Heathrow!

Match 5 (final match) vs Colt's CC Ladies

We started bright and early once again, and made our way to the Colt's Cricket Club in Colombo, dodging our way through the traffic - and we actually arrived early!! Strody won the toss AGAIN (!) and chose to bat on a typical Sri Lankan wicket, dry and dusty. We thought we would be better off setting a total than chasing one down.

Unfortunately, this was not the case, and despite some hard work and beautiful shots from Georgia H, the team collapsed around her, all out in 20 overs. We decided it would be better to make a game of it, so had a rolling batting order and batted out our overs. This took some persuasion, as the umpires may have been after some extra money.. We managed a good total of 111 in some very hot conditions, with contributions from everyone that batted a second time. Maud even came out of her crease - a decent charge and block.

We had a very nice hot sit down tea, and took to the field knowing we had to bowl well. Emilia took the first wicket, with the ball swinging well, but it wasn't until Kim came on with her off-spin that we really made inroads into the Colts' batting order. Her 4 over spell was 5-12, including two fantastic catches to Miranda, one caught & bowled and a stumping from Maud. This was definitely the most devastating spell of bowling on tour. Jacqui also picked up a wicket, and was unlucky to not have more, with the batsmen struggling to play the extreme swing bowling. She particularly enjoyed bowling at the left hander and swinging the ball away. Sadly, we were not able to stop the Colts reaching our total.

Although some of our experiences in our matches have been humbling, we wouldn't change the experience. We've all learnt so much about our own cricket and has enabled us to become better players. We've met some really lovely Sri Lankan lady cricketers, which makes the result almost meaningless.

After the match we headed back to the hotel, tired but excited for the evening ahead - our last night on tour. Look out for an update tomorrow with the results of all the awards and photos from the presentation evening!

Love, Strody.