Ruardean Hill Cricket Club

Victory for the ladies in their final hardball league game of the season! 🏏

Today’s women’s 1st XI to take on Aston Ingham in their last T20league game of the season 🏏

Thanks Nick 🏏

A number of significant club milestones have been passed in recent weeks - congratulations to Alfie Jayne and Adam Cole for respectively taking their 100th and 200th 1st XI wickets, and to Aaron Barnett for passing the 100 wicket mark in all matches for RHCC. Well bowled, gents! ☄️

Last night’s Revels result 🏏

Tonight’s Revels team to take on Quedgeley and Hardwicke CC! 🏏

RHCC on tour! Some of our finest at The Hundred in Cardiff today, offering tips on how to win games in the format 😉 🏏

MATCH REPORTS ✍🏻

When Bream conceded Wednesday’s scheduled softball T20 league match, it looked like being another frustrating week for Ruardean Hill’s women’s section. Unfazed, Revels captain Samantha took to her contacts book and hastily arranged a fixture with Goodrich for Thursday.

The nature of the game – a softball pairs friendly – provided the opportunity for new faces to make their mark. Andie stepped in for her first softball appearance for the club, while 12-year-olds Ellyn and Molly – mainstays of the junior section – both made their debut for the women’s team.

Goodrich’s ground is a lovely setting for a cricket match, and the glorious Thursday evening sunshine only enhanced that. Looking to get her new players into the game early, Sam chose to field first upon winning the toss, a decision which was quickly rewarded as Molly took a wicket with only her fifth ball in senior cricket. Brilliantly athletic fielding from Ellyn in front of the wicket and safe hands from Francesca behind them helped to apply pressure which soon turned into more wickets, with another two dismissals for Molly (3-13) and one for Joss (1-16) to leave the home side 4 down after only 6 overs. Kate (2-17) made further inroads in the middle section of the innings, and to make matters worse for Goodrich, Iona was yet to bowl. Sam had held her strike bowler back for the final batting pair, and Iona (5-12) duly delivered, a devastating 12-ball spell of pace seeing her dismantle the stumps numerous times to earn her first ever five-wicket haul.

Having restricted Goodrich to 93 runs and taken 11 wickets (and with the softball rule of 5 runs to the bowling team’s total for every dismissal, giving them 55 runs before facing a delivery), all the Revels needed to do with the bat was avoid losing many wickets. Kate (15) got the scoreboard ticking over, and after a couple of early scares (Sam run out and Andie bowled), Fran (7), Molly (7) and Joss (15) steadied the ship to leave the score on 87 for 2 after 12 overs. If the game seemed as good as won at that point, Iona (25) made sure of it in her first 6 balls at the crease. A brutal sequence of 6, 4, 4, 0, 6, 4 saw the ball fly to all parts of the boundary. Iona only faced 1 more delivery after that – content to let Ellyn see off the last few overs – but the damage had been done. The Revels finished on 120 for 3 (a net score of 175) to win by 67 net runs. More important than the victory, though, were the performances of the new players. They’re all great additions to the squad and we can’t wait to see what they’ll do in future matches.

Sunday saw RHCC Women play their final Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation hardball pairs league match of the season, away at champions-elect Tewkesbury. Despite being bowled all out for 73 in a T20 game two weeks earlier by the same opponents on the same wicket, visiting captain Kay chose to be bold and bat first.

Joss (7) – perhaps expecting demons in the pitch – went back to a full delivery that kept low and was bowled off the first ball of the match. On the back of this, a watchful approach was adopted by the first four batters, with Millie and Donna particularly dogged in their defence, and no more wickets were lost until the last ball of the 8th over when Andrea was deemed to have strayed out of her crease and given out stumped. Sam carried on with the cautious approach, but Lacey (13) - making a welcome return to the team after 2 months preparing for the World Kickboxing Championships – decided the best form of defence was attack, striking two fours before being caught twice looking for more boundaries. Kay (16) came in with a positive mindset, finding the rope three times and running well between the wickets with Fran. With two big hitters to come, the score looked to be heading past the three-figure mark, but the reintroduction of the Tewkesbury openers for the last 4 over kept Iona and Becca’s (7) scoring opportunities to a minimum (and resulted in the latter being caught attempting to clear the long-on boundary). Despite this, a total of 97 for 5 off 20 overs represented a decent effort on a tricky surface.

In reply, Becca opened the bowling, and a sharp piece of work in the field by Joss saw the Tewkesbury number 2 dismissed off the fourth ball of the innings. Three boundaries followed before the same batter was bowled by a beautiful leg spinner off Lacey’s first delivery to leave Tewkesbury on 20 for 2 after 4 overs.

Kay constantly rotated her five bowlers to stop the batting team getting into a rhythm, and this tactic – along with the adoption of a consistent stump-to-stump bowling line, and a close-set field to eliminate the possibility of quick singles – worked a treat. Overs 5 to 10 saw only 2 runs scored off the bat, with wickets (both bowled) for Joss and Becca. A four temporarily broke the shackles, but 8 balls later Lacey (2-14) bowled the Tewkesbury number 5 to put her team in firm control of the match.

Tewkesbury’s captain batted with good intent but was unable to pierce the infield and was bowled by Iona (1-14) whilst trying to do so. Two balls later her partner perished attempting to go over the top, Lacey taking a good catch above her head at midwicket off the bowling of Joss. At 57 for 7 after 16 overs, the home side were on the ropes.

The final batting pair walked to the crease knowing that their only hope of victory was to score as many boundaries as possible. Millie, however, had other ideas. Having conceded 9 runs from her first 5 balls at the start of the innings, she bowled exclusively full and straight thereafter, only conceding a single in her next 13 deliveries. She maintained this tactic for her final over and got her just rewards, three swipes across the line resulting in two bowled dismissals, plus a catch behind the wicket for Fran, to give Millie a rare (but well-earned) triple-wicket maiden and figures of 3-10 from her 4 overs.

The result was no longer in doubt, but Tewkesbury’s batters decided to go down swinging, hitting a few fours in the last 3 overs but being bowled a couple more times along the way by Joss (3-16) and Becca (3-24) to take their final run tally to 79 for the loss of 12 wickets.

The end result: A massive win for RHCC Women, not just in terms of margin (53 net runs), but also in terms of their self-belief. After being on the wrong side of several close finishes, it was nice for the team to end the hardball pairs season on a high with their first ever outdoor victory against Tewkesbury (a fine side hitherto unbeaten in hardball pairs in 2026 and likely league winners even with this result).

Two big, thoroughly deserved wins in four days, both thanks to dominant bowling displays. Hopefully this gives the team a reminder of their abilities and provides a morale boost ahead of the final few matches of the season. Up the Hill! 🏏

TOTW | 20.07.2026-26.07.2026 🏏

TOTW | 13.07.2026 - 19.07.2026 🏏