Match Preview
The Women’s 1st XI return to Berkshire this weekend having seen all our fixtures in July and August being on the road. The Women will face Cambridgeshire at Binfield CC in the 50 over Metro Bank Women’s League 3 – Div 1 fixture.
Last time out the Women produced a strong performance against then 2nd in the table Staffordshire to pick up a bonus point win having slipped to defeat a fortnight before away at Cheshire.
Our win against Staffordshire moved us back up the table to 3rd place with 15 points having won 3, lost 2. It has also made everything very tight going into the final two rounds of fixtures. It looks as though undefeated Devon will qualify for finals day while four teams battle it out for the other spot in the final. How the table currently looks:
1st – Devon – 23 Points (5 wins/0 losses)
2nd – Bucks – 19 Points (4 wins/1 losses)
3rd – Berkshire – 15 Points (3 wins/2 losses)
4th – Staffordshire – 14 Points (3 wins/2 losses)
5th – Cheshire – 13 Points (3 wins/2 losses)
6th – Cambridgeshire – 5 Points (1 win/4 losses)
7th – Wiltshire – 4 Points (1 win/4 losses)
8th – Hertfordshire – 0 Points (0 wins/5 losses)
4 Points for a Win (+ 1pt for Bonus Point win 1.25x run rate)
This weekend is set up to be a very interesting weekend of cricket with leaders Devon travelling to 5th placed Cheshire and 2ndplaced Bucks, playing 4th placed Staffordshire. Meanwhile the Berkshire Women play 6th placed Cambridgeshire who picked up a bonus point win against Hertfordshire last time out.
A positive result against Cambridgeshire would put ourselves in a strong position going into the final round of fixtures as we host current 2nd placed Bucks in the final game of the group stages.
However, despite only pick up 1 win so far, Cambridgeshire have shown their potential as a side. In their most recent game, they posted the highest 1st innings score of the competition so far making 302/9 against Hertfordshire with Issy Routledge returning for the 1st time this season on loan from Tier 2 side Middlesex and making 122. They also pushed Bucks close earlier in the season posting 269 with Bucks winning with just 2 balls to spare in a rain reduced game.
Team News
Head Coach, Tom Jackson makes 3 changes to the side with Alex Avoth unavailable due to work commitments and Fiza Asif Iqbal & Lily Bowlby will both be representing their club sides this weekend. In comes the returning, Shristi Patil having missed the last match due to selection in the ECB U19 Super 4s competition where she finished as the 6th highest run scorer. Seamer Mary Briscoe also returns to the side to bolster an already well stocked seam bowling attack that accounted for 7 of the 10 wickets last time out.