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Charlie’s team plays in the early match against Cities South and they have a win, which has her excited. Especially since she nabbed a couple of catches, one of them a hanger which I know she’s going to brag about for days. I have no doubt she’s going to hit Ravi up to get her a copy of the footage of the match just so she can play that catch over and over.
She also scored a solid 27 in the middle order, which I missed because Cities North were playing on the oval next door and I wanted to watch Paris play again.
Charlie drops by my warm-up session before my match. “Looks like you’ve got an admirer.”
I turn to where she’s looking and see Warren Simmons with his camera up, snapping photos of our training session. “Oh. He’s just a local reporter,” I reply. I run across the grass to field a low ball and throw it back to our coach.
Charlie grins at me. “Local star hey?”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah right.” Our fielding coach indicates he’s going to go up for high ball catching and I wave to show him I understand. He hits a ball high into the air and I run in and take a good catch. I throw the ball back and jog to the back of the line.
“You better step up your game today if that reporter is watching,” Charlie says. “Your innings was pretty ordinary yesterday.”
“Ordinary? Forty-five off twenty-four balls isn’t ordinary,” I reply.
“It is for Alice Henderson,” Charlie says with a grin.
I poke my tongue out at her and she laughs.
“Hey, nice innings today, Charlie,” Ashley says, appearing beside me.
“Oh, thanks,” Charlie replies, ducking her head.
“You’ve got a great cut shot,” Ashley says. “And that first catch was unbelievable. Classic for sure.”
“Don’t give her a big head,” I say. “She doesn’t need any encouragement.”
Charlie snort laughs. “I’ll catch you after the game.” She wanders off to the stands and I turn my attention back to my coach. I take another high catch, and then, as I run across to grab a drink, I glance to the boundary. Warren Simmons is now talking to Paris. I don’t know how she knows I’m looking at her but somehow she does. She turns to look in my direction and I see a slow, sneering smile spread across her face. I turn away and dig in my kit bag for my sunscreen. It’s going to be a hot afternoon and I need to focus on my own game.
***
We field first against Central Queensland and for some reason, our bowlers can’t find their line and length early. We let the Central batters get away from us and they end their innings on 5 for 168. It’ll be a tough ask but we’ve been playing well, and besides, it also potentially gives me more runs to get if I get a decent bat today.
Our openers get us off to a quick start again but we lose early wickets and our run rate drops. Before I know it, I’m striding out to the middle with over a hundred runs to get from twelve overs. The only good thing about that is that Central don’t seem to have a good second wave of bowling, so their part-timers are on, probably saving their strike bowlers for the last four overs, or until we get down to our bowlers, which will come sooner rather than later if we don’t do something drastic. I really only have an over or two to get my eye in before I need to hit out and that makes me more than a little nervous. It doesn’t help that Warren Simmons has stuck around to watch our game and has been sitting right beside our team all match, his camera clicking.
I try to put him out of my mind, and I get some runs straight away, but only in ones and twos. Even though Central aren’t bowling that well, my batting partners start to panic and start playing rash shots to get the run rate moving, and getting out. To make matters worse, I’m not getting much of the strike so I’m not scoring runs either. Brydie comes in and together we steady the innings but just as we’re starting to look good, she gets caught after misjudging a slower ball. By the time Ashley Finch, our last batter, comes to the crease, our run rate has all but stopped.
Ashley can hold down an end but we need quick runs. I’m going to have to take the strike as much as I can. Somehow, I’ve got to get her to stick with me long enough for us to try to win this thing.
I cringe as Ashley dangles her bat out to a wide one she should’ve left alone, but thankfully, it misses the edge and goes through to the ‘keeper. It’s also the last ball of the over, which means I’m back on strike. That’s the first good thing to happen in a couple of overs.
I meet Ashley in the middle of the pitch to see how she’s feeling.
“I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up,” she says. “There’s a lot of overs left.”
I adjust my gloves and fix up my pads. “You’ll be right. Just make sure you get your bat on it when it’s on the stumps and unless you know you can hit it, leave it alone.”
Ashley nods and adjusts her gloves. “Will we get close do you think?”
“I hope so,” I reply. The truth is, I have no idea. With no more wickets left, I have to decide what I’m going to do. Try to see out the rest of the overs but play to protect mine and Ashley’s wickets? Or go all out and try to win, but risk losing my wicket and the match? It’s a tough choice and I’m the only one who can make it.