Ladies XI
May 17th
Pannal secured an excellent 10 wicket win against a competitive Green Hammerton on a slow, wet Pannal wicket. Batting first Green Hammerton's openers Abby Whisker 20 and Becky Moore42 n.o. piled up a 56 opening partnership, which featured some excellent running between the wickets. The Pannal fielders were just that little too deep and failed to anticipate their quicker thinking opponents.The introduction of the irrepressible Yorkshire pair Claire (Thumper) Atkinson and Wendy Brown slowed down the scoring rate and each claimed a wicket. Sally Harrison 25 n.o gave the innings some acceleration at the end, so that they finished on a defendable 106 for 2. Captain Maria Janes again proved to be the most democratic in the league sharing the bowling between 7 bowlers, a mark of the strength in depth the squad is beginning to develop. Pannal's reply began warily against some tight bowling from Yorkshire Development squad player Abby Whisker, but blossomed into one of the best stands in recent memory. Wendy Brown 59 n.o drove strongly through the covers and Rachel Wood 38n.o was especially severe on anything short, powerfully hitting down the ground and surprising herself! Pannal in the end coasted to a fantastic 10 wicket win with 3 overs left. Wendy now tops the league batting average, at 155 and dare we say may just challenge Melissa Reynard's last year!!
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Pannal Ladies v Birstwith Ladies
May 10th
Pannal secured their first league win of the season in style, with a comfortable 30 run win over Birstwith. It is a credit St Aidans School that no fewer than 10 of the ladies on show had some connection with the school, in Lisa's case going back a few more years than she'd care to remember!! Pannal got off to a brisk start, with Rachel Wood hitting an aggressive 22. At times it looked like she had forgotten the hockey season had finished, playing some shots not in the MCC coaching manual, but then again Emma Lyons (ex-St Aidans) bowling wasn't exactly textbook! Rachel fell to a stunning catch by fellow St Aidans student Katie Taylor. This brought Wendy Brown to the crease, who batted through the remainder of the innings for a classy 45 not out. She received able support from 15 year old Louise Donnelly, who visibly grew in confidence, hitting an unbeaten 19, to raise the Pannal total to a healthy 113 for 2. The Birstwith reply got off to the worst possible start, when the unfortunate Lyons, not having her best night, was running out backing up, with a smart deflection onto the bowlers stumps by Lisa Sienkiewicz. It looked like a deliberate quick piece of thinking! Biirstwith started to rebuild their innings with a 26 run partnership between Sowray and Taylor, before the introduction of Brown and Donnelly ( sounds like a firm solicitors). Wendy took 2 for 3 and Donnelly 2 for 2 as wickets began to tumble. Wendy accounted for the St Aidans girls coaching guru Claire Bridson, manfully encouraging her team, with a beauty, which pitched off, turned and clipped an exposed leg stump.There was time for another former St Aidans girl and graduate of the Business Acadamy Charlotte, Mouse, Grayson to capture 2 for 8, with one believed to wicketkeeper Donna Kirby's first ever catch. Hayley Bellerby( St Aidans) showed some belated aggression for an unbeaten 18, while 12 year Ellie Small clearly benefited from Donna's constant coaching tips. In one of the many amusing incidents on the night, Poonam Kalarai pulled up with cramp in her toes after 1 ball and was unfit to continue. Was she laughing or crying as Miss Bridson tried to stretch the cramp out!
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Pannal Juniors
May 6th
Lady Taverners Competition
Pannal Junior Girls season started their season with the Lady Taverners Tournament at York.The Under 13s defending their National Title made a swift exit and were unfortunate to be caught cold. A strong Beverley team, who had played a game first, ran into form against us. Our more experienced batters fell going for big shots, when they could have defended the better bowlers, leaving us to defend a low score in the 30s. We tried valiantly restricting them in the 50s but former Yorkshire Supremo David Byas daughter Georgie showed her batting prowess to lead her side home. In the second match Pannal proved far too strong for a young Brodsworth side scoring over 100 and all bowling very well. The Under 15s reversed the fortunes beating Beverley convincingly in their first match. Pride of place went to Beth Wilson, a rapidly improving left arm bowler., who took a hattrick, with the last a beautiful in swinger which took middle stump, .She was ably supported by new Yorkshire U15 player and Pannal cpatian Louise Donnelly, who took 2 for 5 and new player Jess Parker 1 for 1. Replying to 25 for 8 (under the Lady Taverners scoring system of losing 3 per wicket a total of 1) Pannal reached 65 for 4. Lucy Wood carried her bat for a well struck 21 not out; Jess and Louise both hit 8. The final brought against old rival Pool, who only had 7 Yorkshire players to our 2. Batting first Pannal bowled very well and forced the Yorkshire U15 opening pair to play every ball on its merits. The total never got away from us and apart form one dropped catch the fielding was excellent. Abi Chapman kept wicket well. Pool reached 73 for 2, with Louise the pick of the bowlers with 1 for 8 off 3 overs.Cassie Gentry bowled a maiden and Jess worked up quite a pace. Pannal's reply got off to a poor start losing 2 quick wickets and a slow scoring rate. However, as the total crept up, we were in with a chance but never quite seriously threatened. Lucy Wood once again carried her bat for an unbeaten 8, but saw very little of the strike while Louise, once she got going, struck some lovely shots in her 19. It was all so close and with more quick singles taken we could have won. The girls as always played with a tremendous team spirit, encouraging each other throughout and were not too disappointed to lose in the end.
Pannal Ladies v Glasshouses Ladies
May 3rd
Pannal's Nidderdale Evening League campaign began in glorious sunshine up the Dale at Glasshouses.Billed as the battle of the allrounders Amy Burton ( Glasshouses) and Wendy Brown (Pannal), the pair did not let us down with tremendous all round performances. Batting first, Burton punished anything on the short legside boundary before being bowled, by Charlotte Grayson, off the last ball of the innings for 66. Scoring at the other end looked much more difficult, especially when the spinners Brown and Grayson were extracting lots of turn. New captain Maria Janes stuck to her game plan to share the bowling around and was rewarded with wickets for Rachel Wood, a tidy opening spell, Lisa Sienkowicz and Louise Donnelly. Glasshouses finished on an imposing 115 for 4.
Mirroring the Glasshouses innings, Pannal's response was dominated by Wendy Brown's hard hit 51. She received some support from Dawn Buxton 12, but too many players failed to move their feet to the pitch, which is why 7 were bowled. In many ways Wendy's innings was better than Burtons,' facing tighter bowling and better set fields, with many players on the edge to give her one. She still managed to pierce the field but was eventually bowled giving herself too much room, leaving Amy Burton 4 for 10 to win the battle of the all rounders.
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Pannal Ladies v York Ladies
April 29th
Pannal Ladies suffered a narrow 21 run defeat, at York Ladies on their debut in the open age White Rose Development League on Sunday. This is a new venture for the Ladies, playing a full 40 over a side match, which many of the juniors found very tiring. On winning the toss Pannal invited York to bat and were rewarded with a steady fall of wickets. Louise Donnelly, celebrating her call up to the Yorkshire U15 squad, bowled an excellent line and length picking up 3 for 6; Punam Kalarai 1 for 10 and Beth Wilson 1 for 7 also bowled very tightly.
Jo Crawshaw, although more expensive, picked up 3 wickets and capped an excellent fielding display with 2 runouts. Our change bowlers were more wayward and ultimately the number of wides bowled was more than the difference between the teams, with York reaching 139 all out.
In reply Rachel Wood 33 and Punam Kalarai 18, put on rapid 55 for the 2nd wicket, with their running between the wickets a lesson to all. While they were batting it looked like we would win with overs to spare, but their fall in quick succession put the pressure on the lower order, who chipped away at the total but finished short on 118 all out. Disappointingly we only had 9 players and the extra 2 could have made all the difference.
Nevertheless Pannal thoroughly enjoyed their first taste of the league and everyone bowled at least 4 overs, not simply relying on our best bowlers. If we had, I have no doubt we would have won, but it is a steep learning curve.