St Mary’s Year 8 girls cricket team represented the school at the Sainsbury’s School Games Level 3 finals on Thursday, having qualified as the top team from the Newcastle area. They faced off against teams from Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland.

The girls played Thorpe Academy first and chose to bowl. The girls bowled and fielded well, with Kate Lievesley bowling a great last over and conceding no runs as Thorpe finished on 47. Grace Taylor batted brilliantly and retired on 23* and Helen Dooner scored 19 before running herself out, with St Mary’s finishing winners on 59.

Game 2 was played against Valley Gardens and St Mary’s chose to field first again. Grace Taylor took a brilliant catch in the first over off Thea Cowie’s bowling to get St Mary’s off to a great start. Grace then took another catch, this time caught and bowled off her own bowling. Becki Park bowled really well in her first ever game and helped St Mary’s keep Valley Gardens to 38. St Mary’s really struggled to score runs at the start of the innings and unfortunately couldn’t score enough at the end, losing by 7 runs.

St Mary’s took on St Wilfrid’s in game 3 and their opponents started well, hitting 2 6’s from the first over. Helen Dooner bowled an excellent over to take a wicket but St Wilfrid’s continued to score heavily and finished on 71. Grace Taylor started the innings off incredibly, with four 6’s from the first four balls of the innings!! The St Mary’s batters couldn’t follow their captain’s example however, and came up just short of their

St Mary’s dominated their opposition in Game 4, with Helen Dooner, Grace Taylor, Chloe Mason and Kate Lievesley all scoring well with St Mary’s finishing on an excellent total of 69. The girls bowled very well in the final innings, restricting their opponents to 21 runs, their biggest win of the day by 48 runs!

The girls were excellent throughout the day and have really made outstanding progress since the beginning of the year. In finishing with 2 wins and 2 defeats they finished a deserved 3rd place overall. Their attitude has been exceptional at each festival they have attended and it has been a pleasure to see them develop.

Players of the Day –
Grace Taylor – some brutal hitting, hitting 4 consecutive 6’s for the fastest retirement possible! Also bowled well with good pace and accuracy to take several wickets on the day.

Kate Lievesley – the most accurate bowler on the day and was often trusted with the most important final over. Leading wicket taker on the day!

Mr Hook