What a spectacular way to finish the cricket season! We are so proud of our Heaton Girls 1st XI , who have been crowned National Champions for 2019. With wins over Tawa, Ellesmere College, Balmacewen, Remuera Intermediate & Sacred Heart, our Heaton team went a perfect 5 wins from 5 matches.
The Heaton girls have put in a huge amount of effort for the whole season, and have been rewarded for their dedication and hard work. As a school, we would also like to recognise the amazing contributions of our coach Barry van Beurten. Barry has worked with our teams for many years, and his tireless efforts and enthusiasm have been nothing short of extraordinary. We would also like to thank Ms Caygill and Mrs Edge for all of their support throughout the season.
Game 1 : Heaton 103 beat Tawa 36
The outfield was slow and boundaries fairly large. We lost the toss and were asked to bat against the top team from Wellington. Lucy and Kate C got us off to a solid start of 45 at drinks without losing a wicket. At drinks the decision was made to be a lot more aggressive and try and get towards 130. Almost immediately this resulted in Kate C (16) being run out. Lexie came out and with typical aggression took on the bowlers scoring 5 in as many balls before being bowled by Wellingtons best bowler – a leg spinner. Lucy went in the 12th over due to a good catch and were 65-4. This bought Emily D (8) and Lily Y (16) to the crease. Millie S came in and scored a good 7 while the last 3 batters did not trouble the scorers much. So all in all we were 20-30 short of what we wanted – but our run rate did not slow as we lost wickets. And we got to three figures!
There was a quiet confidence amongst the Heaton supporters that this total might be enough. Eden bowled very well conceding just 5 runs from her 3 overs and claiming one of the openers. By the 6th over things were starting to feel a bit tense as Tawa were at 26 in the 6th over and the scoreboard had them as favourites to win. We were however, about to experience the best Heaton bowling effort in our proud history at nationals. Lexie took the ball as first change and bowled impeccable line and length to finish with the amazing figures of 3 overs 5 wickets for 2 runs (all bowled). This explains why Tawa were at 26-1 and to be all out for 36. I imagine Lexie greatly treasured getting out the bowler who got her out half an hour earlier. Ava took a catch off the bowling of Emily and we also executed a classy run out from a no ball – really quick thinking and clever play between Lexie and Emily.
Game 2 : Heaton 271/0 beat Ellesmere College 26 (7.3 overs)
Ellesmere kindly filled the space left by Kamo’s (Northern Districts) late withdrawal. It quickly became apparent that we were considerably stronger than them so the decision was made to give all the team a bat. Kate (12) and Lucy (53 in 24 balls) were given 6 overs to show what they could muster and they did well accumulating 81 runs. Lexie (79 in 28 balls) and Emily (18) put on 105 in their 6 overs. Lily (20) and Millie S (11) had 4 overs and scored 51 runs. This left Eden (2) and Ava (13) 4 overs but we only got 2 of them as time ran out.
We decided to bowl our year 7 girls with Aiofe (2-0-2) and Lily (2-0-7) opening the bowling. Success came with Millie M (1-1-14) claiming the first wicket. Then another bowling first was about to unfold – Emily D collected a hat trick in her only over 1/3/2. She bowled 2 of them and captain Lucy secured the hat trick with a regulation catch at cover. Lucy and Lexie also chipped in with a wicket maiden each. To top off a good fielding effort were 2 run outs at the keepers end with Lily and Emily combining well with Kate C to execute the run outs. At the end of day one just Balmac and Heaton sat on 2 wins.
Game 3 : Balmacewen 42 lost to Heaton 44/5 in 11.4 overs
Balmac won the toss and elected to bat first on a good wicket at Lincoln Domain – a 5 minute drive from the Lincoln University grounds. Ava bowling the second over of the game, bowled the opener with a fully pitched swinging delivery. The teams best batter was still at the crease however did not look overly comfortable against Ava and Eden, who bowled fast and full. She survived this spell only to be caught and bowled by a Lexie full toss in the fifth over, leaving Belmac at 16/2. Lexie then removed the next batter first ball to leave them reeling at 16-3. The next 4 wickets were lost with the score on 26 with wickets by Ava and Lexie but the last wicket partnership was the best taking Balmac through to 42. Ava finished with 4 overs, 4 wickets for 5 runs and Lexie 4/3/11.
Heaton knew that they only needed to bat out their overs to win but we did not get off to the best start with the score at 2/2 before the second over had finished. Kate C was run out in the 5th over for 9 runs and the score at 19. The parents were getting a bit nervous and Balmac was buoyed by their early success. Soon after we lost 2 more wickets with easy catches off some slow bowling before Lexie and Ava steadied the ship and saw us home. Ava did well defending getting 1 off 14 but letting Lexie have the strike. Lexie played in my mind the best innings of the tournament putting aside her aggressive nature to ensure that she only hit bad balls and she scored the winning runs top scoring with 25* off 29 balls. We were now the only unbeaten side and so our thoughts turned to Remuera – our next game.
Game 4: Heaton 186/2 beat Remuera Intermediate 103 (19.2 overs)
Again we lost the toss but were asked to bat first. Winning this game almost ensured we would win the shield due to our superior run rate – even if we lost tomorrow. We got off to the best start of the tournament with Lucy being dismissed for 39 with the score of 86/1. This bought in Lexie who was itching to get to the crease and scored 53 off 29 balls before being retired. Kate C was bowled for 48 with the score on 164/2. Emily (7) and Lily (10) saw the score through to 186.
Remuera started well getting to 47 before they lost their first wicket (LBW bowled Lucy). It did however take 8.4 overs to get there, meaning that the game had already slipped out of their grasp. In the 10th over Lucy caught their best batter for 30 off the bowling of Lily Young. Lexie took a couple of run outs and we snared 3 catches in all (2 to captain Lucy and one to Emily). The batters slowly accumulated the score to 103 before being dismissed in the last over. Lily was the best of the bowlers with 2 wickets for 25.
Game 5 Heaton 122/3 beat Sacred Heart 29 (10.4 overs)
Heaton won the toss and elected to bat. Kate (36*) and Lucy (23) got us off to another great start getting us to 44 in the 8th over. Lexie accelerated the run rate with a quick fire 37 off 32 balls before Kate was retired and Lexie was bowled in the 17th over with the score at 111. This allowed us to give Kate S the opportunity to get a bat in her last game for Heaton – she scored a run a ball 6 before being bowled, bringing Emily and Lily to see off the last few overs and take the score to 122.
We were very confident now with our bowling stocks and having bowled every team out for the first time in our history – we decided to start off with our openers Eden (1 wicket) and Ava (2 wickets), before giving Aoife and Millie M (2 of our year 7s) a bowl, Aoife bowled well and Millie picked up 2 wickets for 2 runs.
Summary
Although many of the games were quite convincing wins – this is arguably the strongest bowling unit in our history. Lexie was in the form of her life with both the bat and ball – she won the tournament MVP. Eden won the team MVP for her part heading up the bowling attack and although she did not take lots of wickets – she did bowl incredibly well, tied up one end and was consistent all tournament. Captain Lucy was amazing leading the team on and off the field – her understanding of the game was beyond her years. She was also among the leading batters for the tournament.
This is now Heaton’s 6th national girls cricket title in 8 years (with a second last year). The team are already talking about coming back and defending their title in 2020. We have a good core of year 7’s who gained a lot of experience this year that will give them confidence next year.
