Chenies & Latimer CC has gained itself a strong reputation for its provision of girls’ cricket over the last few years. We have 2 girls teams (U14 and U15) with a squad of over 25 players, plus many more in the younger age groups.

We don’t just have the numbers, but we also have the talent – many of our girls have been involved with county representative cricket and 4 have played senior mens cricket this season for the club.

That talent has won local cricket festivals and has done well in the BCB junior leagues, and now can claim the title of Bucks County U15 Champions. The cup final was reached courtesy of an imperious performance against Beaconsfield a few weeks ago in the semi-final. The final was an altogether different prospect against a strong Stony Stratford side featuring county representative players for both Bucks and Northants. Our girls coach, Nick Walker, picks up the story:

It’s been a short season but after Sunday’s result a very memorable one! Chenies Girls U15s hosted a strong Stony Stratford U15 team in the inaugural Bucks U15 Girls County Cup Final. The match was played on the main square and I’ve never seen so many supporters at a cricket game at Chenies. The girls arrived for 11am ahead of the midday start and Es Brown (our resident photographer) took some fantastic team photos. We then went over to the nets and warmed up for 30 minutes. I could feel the nervous excitement in the players and I was feeling it too. Amelia Peck was the skipper and her first job was the toss which she duly lost! Our opponents put us into bat. The skipper and coach had many conversations that day and one was that Lara Daurka should bat at three. Despite Lara’s lack of excitement of fulfilling this role it proved a stroke of genius.
The innings got under way with Emma Pannett and Emma Braddock opening as they did in the semi against Beaconsfield. Unfortunately, we lost 3 quick wickets against a strong bowling attack. The skipper joined Lara at 24-3. Lara played some lovely shots and kept rotating the strike. The skipper was hitting the ball all round the park and made a quick 25. Then a mix up and the skipper was just run out. The 46 run partnership had got us back in the game. Emily Brown joined Lara and together they added a further 44 runs before Lara was bowled with 2 balls remaining for an excellent 32. Emily 13 and Caitlin Walker 1 finished our innings on 116. A top effort.
Stony needed nearly a run a ball to win the final. They started off very quickly with a loose first over from Louisa Peck. Emily at the other end was her economical self, going for 4 runs. Louisa and Emily then bowled 2 tight overs to leave them on 23 runs after 4 overs. Emma B was the first bowling change and took a wicket with her third ball. Clean bowled for a wicket maiden. She then bowled another over and conceded 4 runs. We have a talented team at Chenies and everyone gets a bowl. Emma P, Lara, Caitlin, Ruby and Sophia then had an over each, before the skipper brought herself on. Their other opening bat was starting to go on the offensive and smashed her way to an excellent 52 before she had to retire. At the half way mark Chenies were slightly on top with the score on 52-1. The break at 10 overs turned the game in Stony’s favour with the opener on fire and the other batter contributing as well. Then the skipper turned to Poppy Lewis. After her first over which conceded just 3 runs the first ball of the second over saw the wicket of Stony’s captain who was brilliantly caught by Emma P. Such a good stretch up to take the catch. Poppy then finished off the over without conceding a run for the second Chenies wicket maiden. Daisy came on and went for a run a ball but Stony needed more than this. Emma B, Emily and the skipper returned at the end, with the skipper having the honour of bowling the final over with 20 runs required. After 3 dot balls the hosts were celebrating. Only 3 runs conceded and Stony restricted to exactly 100. Our fielding was very good. Well done to Ruby and Louisa for sharing the wicket keeper role. Caitlin, Daisy and Sophia were great on the boundaries and we made Stony work hard for their runs.
Today wouldn’t have happened without such a great team behind me. Thank you Julie for scoring, Anna for a million messages and keeping the girls on track with cricket throughout lockdown. Tom and Shan for helping with the coaching and the fabulous parents for supporting this great team. We are promised a cup so we will happily show this off with great pride.
Finally well done to Stony and Paul their coach for making this a superb cup final.
Thanks, Nick

So, a 16 run victory saw Chenies begin the celebrations with the biggest crowd seen at Chenies since the Lashings match in 2012. Having that support behind them must have been a great help to the girls, but it also added to the enormity of the occasion and the pressure to perform in front of the crowd. The girls dealt with this pressure superbly, probably because they are such a strong team unit that supports each other and are a better team for it. Club Chairman John Moffitt said “This was an outstanding result with a complete team performance, the togetherness and team spirit was plain to see as everyone made a vital contribution, with the fielding an example for the seniors to copy.“

Congratulations girls, you truly deserve the plaudits.

But it’s not just the players who should be congratulated. Coach, Nick Walker, supported by Shan Patel, Tom Godfrey and Mark Rogers have been instrumental in the success. At the end of the game, Nick was visibly and especially proud. He said “We are Bucks county champions, what an amazing performance. Feels great. And thanks for the incredible support today.” And the admin team should also not be forgotten; Julie Pickard, Anna Peck and Colts Chairman, John Campbell. In this strangest of seasons, it would have been very easy to not offer any colts cricket at all, but the coaches and administrators would not accept this and worked really hard to provide training and playing opportunities. Congratulations to all involved.

Julie Pickard has been a driving force behind the development of successful girls cricket at Chenies, and in reaction to Sunday she said “I can’t begin to tell you how proud I was to watch the match. Amazing performance from all 11 players. Just another perfect sunny Sunday at Chenies. Great season.”

As we look forward to 2021 and hope that a full season of cricket can be played in some normality, we will have much to build upon with regard to girls cricket at Chenies. We especially wish to develop the playing strength in the younger age groups so will be actively recruiting more players. All club members can play a role in this by spreading the word – Chenies & Latimer is the best club for girls cricket in the county!