Another Wednesday brought another tough test for the Horton Reds, this time facing last year’s top contenders, Kettering. In a rare turn of events—possibly for the first time in living memory (well, our memory!)—we found ourselves bowling and fielding first.

Thanks to our Monday night training sessions with Will (where the ladies are always out in force), we took to the field with energy and purpose, immediately limiting Kettering's scoring opportunities. Erin C opened the bowling and set the tone, conceding just two runs in the first over. Mia followed, taking a short break from her GCSE physics revision, and quickly found her rhythm.

Cassidy and Kerry Mikeli were brought into the attack in the 7th over. While wickets remained elusive early on, Kettering’s openers struggled to find gaps as our tight bowling and sharp fielding kept the run rate in check. Eventually, the pressure told—Cassidy struck in the 13th over to claim the first wicket.

Captain Kathryn and Keira were then introduced into the attack. Keira, once again swapping wicketkeeping duties with Cassidy, made an immediate impact, taking a wicket shortly after coming on. She followed that up with another in the 18th over. Thanks to miserly bowling and high-energy fielding, we restricted Kettering to a very manageable 113/3.

After a quick turnaround, our opening batters, Nicky and Becky S, took the field. Some sharp running between the wickets got us off to a promising start. Unfortunately, Nicky fell to a good delivery in the 4th over. But no worries—enter Eryn, who would soon be crowned Player of the Match.

Eryn immediately went on the offensive, peppering all parts of the ground with confident strokes. Kettering’s fielders could barely keep up, struggling to predict where the next shot would go. Becky was dismissed in the 10th over, bringing Keira to the crease.

Eryn kept the momentum going, eventually retiring on 35 to rapturous applause from teammates and spectators alike. Cassidy then joined Keira in the middle, and the pair calmly saw us home, chasing down the target in the 16th over.

Another famous win for the Horton Reds—full of team spirit, solid bowling, sharp fielding, and standout batting. Onward to the next challenge!

1st XI vs. Brixworth CC 1st XI

Dallas Burston Cricket Ground was the setting as the 1st XI travelled to Brixworth. The home side won the toss and opted to bowl, on a dry looking pitch. House got off to a steady start with Arkanath (12) and Parmar (18) putting on 32 for the opening stand. From this position, Horton collapsed to 92-8 with no batsman really getting going or falling to poor shot selection. Horton were indebted to a late order flurry from Harry Bennett-Sulsh (36) who got the score up to 128 before the final wicket fell. Only four Horton batsmen made it to double figures.

Horton’s bowlers started well with Kalpesh Chandracant (5-2-8-0) unlucky to not grab a wicket and Anvit Arkanath (13-3-48-0) bowling with great control. Brixworth’s Toby Cowley took it upon himself to quickly ‘break the back’ of the chase, and his 43 went a long way to doing that. Karan Parmar (12.5-0-56-3) made some breakthroughs to leave the chase at 86-3. Horton continued to fight and two quick wickets from skipper Will Smith (4-0-10-2) had Brixworth worried at 95-5. Unfortunately, there was no miracle and a couple of boundaries had Brixworth back in control – finally passing the total with five wickets in hand. A poor showing with the bat cost Horton dear, but the character shown in the field will give us something to build on.

2nd XI vs. Rushton CC 1st XI

The 2’s welcomed Rushton 1st XI to Denton Road. We won the toss and decided to have a bowl in overhead conditions.

Rushton got off to a flyer and their two openers put on 129 for the first wicket. Just after the drinks break a good direct hit runout from Vaman Mallipedda sent back one of their openers to the pavilion.

From this point our bowlers really came into their own and we were able to get a hold of the game and took wickets at regular intervals for the remainder of the Rushton innings which finished in the 41st over. Rushton were eventually bowled out for 211.

There were wickets for Zahid Mirza (7-1-26-2) and Vaman Mallipedda (4-0-22-2) and a really good spell of bowling from Katie Fidler who deserved at least 3 wickets from the way she bowled. Katie bowled all of her overs at the set batters and only went for 4 runs per over (10-0-40-0).

Our standout bowler however was Elliot Cantrell (5 Wickets). Elliot returned the superb figures of 4.3-1-14-5 with his off spin, combining flight, turn, accuracy and match/batter awareness to secure his 5 wicket haul. It was a thoroughly impressive display from Elliot and was totally deserved.

We set about chasing 211 with Craig Reilly and Finn Herrington opening the innings. We had a steady start and Craig and Finn put on 51 for the first wicket, before Craig got caught for 17.

We had a difficult middle part of the innings and a combination of poor shot selection and good bowling left us on 148-8, still needing 64 to win with only 2 wickers left in the hutch. We did however still have Finn at the crease unbeaten on 68. Katie joined Finn at the crease and both players played so impressively in a tight and pressured environment/situation.

They both played so sensibly and combined good shot selection, great running between the wickers and taking advantage of the bad balls when they came to take us to a wonderful 2 wicket win. Finn and Katie put on 64 unbeaten for the 8 wicket to get us over the line and it was such a mature and sensible partnership from them both and was a pleasure for all to witness.

Katie finished 23 not out and Finn secured his first 100 for Horton, finishing on a very impressive and fully deserved 100 not out.

Special mention to Finn who batted the whole way through the innings and saw 8 of his batting partners come and go, but still played so sensibly and fully backed himself to get us across the line. It was a thorough impressive and mature innings and the match awareness he showed was a real credit to him.

If we are honest with ourselves as a team, we haven’t played anywhere near our best yet in our first five games. But if you can win games not playing anywhere near your capabilities then that bodes well for the rest of the season. At some point everything will click.