HEARTS, I AM TOLD, DO IT BEST

November 28, 2017. It has been a month or so since I last posted and 12 years since I had been to Melville Park, so on Friday I made my way out to Epsom for the Auckland Hearts’ season opener. A look across the ground and I am reminded of a great match all those years ago – a wonderful Secondary School One Day Final victory. Great memories aside, I had forgotten how beautiful a ground Melville Park really is and there was no better place to catch my first Hearts’ game.

While there shouldn’t really be five cricket wickets on such a small footprint, it is a pretty picture when only the main wicket is in use. I arrive seven or eight balls in to the news that the Otago Sparks have won the toss and decided to bowl first. The second over was a mix of wides, no balls and unpunished free hits as Anna Peterson and Lauren Down got the Hearts off to a flier.

To start the fifth over Suzie Bates found her way through the defences of Down. An over later off-spinner Leigh Kasperek followed her skipper’s lead as Peterson looked to attack. Both Hearts openers bowled and back in the deck.

Hearts’ skipper Maddy Green rebuilt slowly as I spent the first 10-12 overs playing myself in, thinking the Hearts were going to set 150 plus and that Suzie Bates would put on a show and single-handedly chase it down.

With six overs to go, the Hearts had followed what I like to call the fourteen-over rule. Score 100 off the first 14 overs, keep some wickets in hand and take ten an over off the last six and you have 160 on the board.

It doesn’t always go to plan. The Sparks pegged the Hearts back with regular wickets during the middle to late stages of the innings. Just when Green was ready to launch, she was the first of three Hearts to be run out as Otago’s death bowlers combined tight lines with a sharp fielding effort to take all the momentum into the break.

In all honesty, I had no idea what kind of score 120/7 was. Had the Hearts left 30 runs on the park? Was it a slowing wicket? Or had the Sparks found the length to bowl at just the right time? I wouldn’t have to wait long to find out.

In front of a crowd of 80-100, the Hearts went through a thorough warm-up and set out to defend their total. To do so, it would require three things – a tight start, early wickets and a bit of luck.

Arlene Kelly and Holly Huddleston quickly set the tone. Kelly struck twice in almost identical fashion as Green snaffled a couple of chances in the covers – the second, the big wicket of Bates. The Hearts celebrated accordingly, but there was still work to do.

Three or four overs in, Sue Borich – the long-time manager of the Hearts – invited me to sit in the player’s tent. While Sue told me about the Hearts’ pre-season tour of Brisbane and about how far women’s cricket has come during her tenure, there was no let-up as all of the Hearts' bowlers maintained focus.

If even only briefly Morna Nielsen and Beth Langston threatened to pull off a heist with some lusty blows. The Hearts however had built far too much pressure on the Sparks. Bella Armstong, Georgia Guy and Anna Peterson, of she bowls wickets fame, benefitted from the elevated required run-rate as they combined to run through the middle order.

As a contest, it fizzled rather quickly. Huddleston returned to the bowling crease to mop up the tail and seal a convincing 31-run victory. Barring a couple early misfields, the Hearts played a clinical second half and set the foundation for a successful weekend as they would go on to win both 50 over matches to sweep the Sparks.

In what Sue said was her last season with the team, she harbours hopes of doing The Double. While there may be a long way to go, the Hearts could not have got off to a better start.