Reigate were the visitors, with hosts Purley pulling out all the stops and giving us their main pitch complete with a very flashy scoreboard (with special graphics for fours and 50s!). Captain Sophie Bellew won the toss and elected to field first. The girls kept the Purley opening batters under tight control in the first few overs, conceding just 14 runs off first 20 balls.

Purley then accelerated, but were still only on 49 in the 10th over when Bella Barton dislodged Purley’s opener, trapping her lbw. In the 14th over Sophie claimed the next victim, caught behind by Aashny Rajnikanth in a super piece of keeping, giving Sophie a wicket maiden for her third over and pegging back Purley’s batting attack hard.

Harriet Jones took the next wicket lbw in the 18th over, sparking a slew of wickets. A superb direct hit from Amelia Leonard at point gave us a run out, and then Sophie Bellew struck with the first ball of her final over, clean bowling Purley’s other opener and top scorer.

The penultimate ball of the match was another wicket, with Harriet providing the run out with a very sharp piece of fielding. All the Reigate players bowled at least one over and all fielded strongly to leave Purley on 88-6 from their 100 balls. Sophie 2-6 off her 4 overs, Harriet 1-12 and Bella 1-15.

Under increasingly leaden skies Aashny and Bella strode out to bat, but Purley were out for revenge and struck in the second (Bella) and third overs (Leah Dexter), leaving Reigate at 8-3.

Captain Sophie marched out, determined to get her team back on track, and together she and Aashny steadied the innings, ticking the scoreboard up regularly, running fast and punishing bad balls with huge boundaries.

At 10 overs, with Reigate now on 54-3, Purley swapped keepers, hoping to change the direction of the match. But Aashny and Sophie were well set now and, with the light fading fast, accelerated hard, putting on 34 runs in 3 overs and bringing up Aashny’s 50. We needed just one run to win, which Aashny delivered immediately – finals day here we come!

Reigate 89-2 from 13.1 overs, with Aashny 51* and Sophie 20*.

GU11-12 friendly v Ashtead

Our U11 and U12 hardball players teamed up for a T20 friendly against Ashtead at the Red Lion, with both sides fielding four U11s and four U12s. RPCC won the toss and elected to bat first. Aadhya Bali and Bella Hillsdon opened the innings, with batter retirement set at 30 runs. Aadhya retired on 31, followed by Bella, who retired on 33. Jessica Perkins and Darcey MacBride were next to bat, both retiring on 33 and 31, respectively.

With a strong total of 161 to defend, Reigate took to the field and showcased excellent fielding and bowling. Maria Malagoni took 3 wickets for 14 runs off 3 overs, Freya claimed 1 wicket for 8 runs off 3 overs, and Kavya Panchal secured 1 wicket for 11 runs off 3 overs. Both Freya and Kavya delivered maiden overs.

It was a superb display of cricket from both teams, with the match concluding with Reigate scoring 161/3 and Ashtead finishing on 108/6. (Match report: Tania Hillsdon)