Match Preview
The Women’s 1st teams attentions return to T20 cricket this weekend with a visit from Devon Women. The new Tier 3 T20 competitions sees us compete in the Tier 3 Division 1 South group against Devon, Hertfordshire & Wiltshire. Each matchday consisting of two T20s. The winner of the group will progress to finals day to take on the North group winner.
Up first is Devon Women who have made a good start to Tier 3 cricket and currently sit just above Berkshire in the table in 1st place in the 50 over group with 3 wins. This included a narrow victory over Berkshire when we made the trip to Budleigh Salterton earlier in the season on Easter Sunday. In the T20 Women’s County Cup earlier in the season Devon Women were able to progress to the third round where they faced Tier 1 side Warwickshire Bears having between Tier 3 Division 2 sides Suffolk and Dorset on the way.
Berkshire have also made a strong start to the season sitting 2nd in the 50 over group with 2 wins by 9 wickets & 6 wickets and 1 loss. The side also put in strong performances in the T20 Women’s County Cup with a 7-run win over Cornwall before putting up a strong fight against Tier 2 side Kent. With both teams putting up strong performances this season it should be a very interesting days cricket
Squad
Izzy Storrar (Captain)
Alex Avoth
Bella Mitchell
Freya Johnson
Iqraa Hussain
Lily Bowlby
Mary Briscoe
Poppy Camplin
Shayna Chikhlia
Shristi Patil
Talitha Stanley
Tanvi Ravikumar
Last Time Out
The Women’s last match saw them host Wiltshire in the 50 over competition which resulted in a 9 wicket win.
With captain Izzy Storrar, losing the toss Wiltshire took the opportunity to bat first on a hard but green wicket with what looked to be a quick outfield. With lots of movement on offer early on Freya Johnson (2/24) found the edge of the opening batter on several occasions before in the 5th over the pressure showed and Izzy Storrar was able to hold onto a sharp catch at slip. With 6 spin options available to the captain, spin was quickly introduced in the form of left arm spinner Rachana Cambampaty (2/25) who picked up the 2nd wicket with the opening batter trapped infront. Freya & Rachana would also pick up another wicket with Rachana getting one to come back at Wiltshire’s Sanya Khurana who was on 23 of 17 had has struck 5 boundaries already. Leg spinner Anisha Dissanayake (0/16) would bowl a tight spell and not let the pressure off Wiltshire before off spinners Hollie Summerfield (1/19) and Shayna Chikhlia (4/7) ripped through the lower order to dismiss Wiltshire for 123 in 23 overs.
A new opening partnership would start off our run chase with Izzy Storrar & Poppy Camplin taking responsibility and moving up to the top of the order. A steady start saw both the opening batters rotating strike well in the opening overs before Izzy Storrar dragged one onto her stumps on 14 with the score sat on 25 in the 7th over. This saw Iqraa Hussain come to the crease. Both batters set about rotating strike well and punishing the bad ball with almost chanceless knocks. The pair would end up putting on an unbroken partnership of 99 with Poppy Camplin (58*) securing her maiden 50 for the 1st team and Iqraa Hussain finishing on 42*. This secured a bonus point win in the 27th over.