Berkshire Women recorded their second win on Monday in a low scoring game away at Northants. Winning the toss captain Ash Muttitt didn’t hesitate to bowl first on a green wicket. This decision paid off in the very first over with Freya Johnson (2-28) bowling Butcher for 7 with a brilliant outswinger. Not to be outdone Molly Bulteel  (1-21)was soon in the wickets dismissing Smart for 5 caught behind by Poppy Camplin making her debut. At 34-3 in the 7^th over the opening pair had put Berkshire in a really strong position backed up by an improved fielding performance runs were hard to come by. The squeeze continued with first change bowlers continuing to target the stumps and building up significant pressure. From 50-3 in the 10^th over Northants were 118-7 in the 28^th with Hankins dismissed by Ceski Clarke (2-12) for 15 the

returning spin of Ava Lee (3-27) and Shayna Chikhlia (1-18) meant Northants were bowled out for 133 in 35 overs. Patience was key as Berkshire set about the chase on a difficult wicket and this was evident as both openers Poppy Tulloch and Shristi Patil took time to build a partnership. The opening partnership of 43 proved invaluable as Berkshire then slipped to 80-6 after some challenging bowling from Northants. Displaying some resilience and patience both Ceski Clarke (36) and Poppy Camplin (16) put on a vital partnership of 53 off 64 balls to see the team home.

Speaking after the game captain Ash commented ‘ the day was set up really well by the opening pair who I felt exploited conditions really well bowling with real threat up top and set the tone brilliantly and then we are fortunate to be able to then have continued pressure from the rest of the bowlers. It has been great to have Ava back and along with all the bowlers they again put in a great performance. Despite being a young side, I feel we have continued to show some real maturity today especially not panicking at the end there that partnership from Poppy and Ceski was really key to see us home’