IAPS Rounders

Leading into National Finals, the girls had had all of their rounders fixtures cancelled due to the bad weather. This did not deter the girls from training every Tuesday lunchtime and any other 10-15 minutes that we could find, before, after and during school. They were fantastic at practising one particular aspect in detail each session and we spent a lot of time on backing up and moving as fielders every time the ball was bowled.We were all very excited about receiving our pink hoodies (even Mr Rennie)! We boarded the bus on Wednesday at the end of the school day, fully laden with matching bags and plenty of food. The journey began well until we hit the dreaded M25, where they had decided to close two lanes to repair the pot holes! We arrived at our hotel and we didn’t get quite as long to get ready for our meal out as we would of liked. The meal was lovely and we could all get a sense of just how excited the girls were. Everyone slept well and we enjoyed plaiting each other’s hair in the morning before breakfast.Once we arrived at Windlesham House School, the nerves began to set in. There were six rounders pitches all set out and schools began to arrive. We enjoyed a team talk about making sure we enjoyed the day, tried our hardest and learnt something.We played our first game against a school who had also not played a game coming into the Finals. Our fielding was outstanding; the girls fielded with military fashion, backing up and stopping most hits. We came into bat and managed to score a brilliant 4½. We won by one rounder, giving us great confidence to put all of our training into practice in the rest of the matches. As the day progressed, we fielded outstandingly well and every team we played commented on this. We tried our hardest with the batting, scoring a massive 16½ rounders in one game. We took the opportunity to try and place the ball during this game, in an attempt to score as many rounders as possible. We played a total of 6 matches including 5 in a row!We finished the group in 4thplace, which meant we played the top group from the other pool. We held our own and surprised them with our efficient fielding and it was only one of their players who managed to score a rounder on each of their batting chances. We tried so hard with our hitting and only missed out narrowly. We ended the day with a match to decide 5thand 6thplace. We won the toss and fielded first, it was a great match to watch, very intense. However, Bishopsgate were just too strong when it came to the batting.I was so proud of this group of girls; they were all exhausted and couldn’t have given anymore. They were fantastic! Everything we had practised and more was evident throughout the day.

A great representation of Fairfield. A huge thank you to Mr Rennie and Mrs Webster for looking after us and driving us all the way down and back.I am so very proud of you all; you far exceeded all expectations and you are all amazing!

Mrs Lewis

Results:

Newland house 3 ½ v 4½ Fairfield
St George’s 6 v 1 Fairfield
Great Walstead 4½ v 6 Fairfield
Witham Hall 8½ v 3 Fairfield
Glendower 4½ v 16 Fairfield
Barrow Hills 4½ v 3 Fairfield