MY team has just finished its season in the Bolton Ladies Rounders League. We’ve had a brilliant time – but we didn’t win a match.

I was one of just a few adults with a very young group of new players, unfortunately at a standard that was just too good for them.

However, during more than 40 years of playing rounders, I can honestly say I’ve never enjoyed a season more.

The reason has been the positive sporting journey that our girls have taken, and that we have taken with them. And the response to them from their parents and family and opposing teams.

They came not really understanding the game, although they’d started playing at school, and were up against some of the many experienced players throughout this very large league.

Under the kindly tutelage of Sue and Gill, two experienced players at the club – Darcy Lever rounders club, the oldest and most successful in the League – they learned how to field more effectively and how to bat sensibly to score well.

Most important of all, they learned to be members of a team, to support each other, appreciate strengths and weaknesses and make every member feel valued as well as respecting the opposition. Tough lessons for little girls still at primary school.

Their response has been wonderful. In the last match, Holly, just 10 but tiny, was suggesting to Meg, a mum herself and a former England volleyball player although new to rounders, where to hit the ball as she had spotted a gap.

Amelia, worried about batting, immediately scored two runs. Isobel showed how her long throw has improved and little Lexi ran her socks off fielding to cover the bases.

Lily Mae, lively and energetic, never stopped trying, just like Casey, Lucy, the two Emilys, Kate, Sienna and Libby (and her mum Tracy) who have given their very best every game, and happily clapped when the opposition regularly scored rounders.

If we fielded twice, we were happy as several matches involved the opposition declaring. There was never, though, trooping off with dejected faces. We all focused on how much the girls had improved, highlighted individual performances and looked forward to the next match.

I love it that they call me Ange when I’m old enough to be their gran, that they smile through everything and have boundless energy. They learned a lot but then so did we.