Sunday 29th June saw the Women’s 1st XI in T20 action as we played host to Hertfordshire Women at Wokingham CC in the second round of fixtures in the Vitality Blast Women’s League 3 – Division 1 South.
Having lost the toss, Berkshire were invited to bat first in Game 1. This meant newly formed opening partnership Shristi Patil (27) and Cesca Sweet (70) headed to the middle. Berkshire would get off to a flyer with 14 runs coming off the first over. The opening pair were able to continue the charge reaching 62-0 at the end of the powerplay. Cesca Sweet would then bring her 50 up at the end of the 9th over off 31 balls. 2 balls later the first wicket of the innings would fall with Shristi departing with the score on 92. At the half way stage, Berkshire were 101/1. The Berkshire batters looked to continue to drive the game forward but lost both Izzy Storrar (8) & Cesca (70, 41balls) in the 12th & 13th over. Hertfordshire were then able to gain some control back restricting the new batters to just 1s and 2s. However, 3 boundaries off the final 4 balls meant Berkshire finished 163/3 with Poppy Camplin (25*) & Lily Bowlby (18*) putting together a 42-run partnership. Left Arm Spinner Chloe Eayrs was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/19 off her 4 overs.
Berkshire’s defence of the total got off to an excellent start with Freya Johnson (2/21) finding the opening batter’s edge with Cesca then completing the catch at 1st slip. However, the momentum would swing in the favour of Hertfordshire as they were able to reach 45/1 at the end of the powerplay. The spin of Shayna Chikhlia was then introduce in the 10th over and it only took 2 balls to make an impact removing the Hertfordshire opener on 50 (33b) with the score 77/2 approaching the halfway stage. After breaking this partnership, Berkshire were then able to gain the momentum back picking up regular wickets and restricting the runs to less than a run a ball. A late flurry of runs in the final over saw Hertfordshire reach 145/6. Shayna finished as the pick of the bowlers taking 3/23. This meant Berkshire picked up a 4-point win in Game 1 with an 18 run win.
Scorecard & Highlights – CLICK HERE
Game 2 saw Berkshire win the toss and quickly choose to bat first again. This time saw the innings get off to a tricky start with Shristi Patil adjudged LBW off the 2nd ball of the innings. A second early wicket would fall with Izzy Storrar departing for 8 in rather unfortunate circumstances with the ball trickling back onto the stumps with just enough force to knock the bails off. This left Berkshire 17/2 in the 3rd over. Fortunately, Cesca was able to continue from where she had left off in Game 1 and race to an even quicker fifty off just 28 balls this time. The score moved to 80 before the 3rd wicket would fall with Lily Bowlby departing. However, this would trigger 4 wickets falling in 13 balls, leaving Berkshire on a precarious 89/6 with 9.1 overs to bat. The run rate was not an issue at over 8 an over but wickets were quickly running out. The set batter in Cesca Sweet was also one of the 4 wickets to fall departing for 61 (36b). This saw Ash Muttitt joined by U15 debutant Immi Storrar who found herself quickly in the thick of the action in a tricky period. Fortunately, the pair were able to steady the ship putting on 29 before Immi departed for 11. Ash continued to move the game forward with the lower order finishing on 34* (24b) and guiding the side to 157/8 at the close of innings. It was an innings that showed real experience and composure at a crucial time.
Defending another sizable total, Berkshire would be hoping to put in a stronger performance with the ball and adapt our plans to restrict Hertfordshire to sub 120 and secure a bonus point win which could be crucial come the end of the season. Having reflected and formed better plans against the Hertfordshire batters it was down to the bowlers to execute. First up was the seamers in Freya Johnson & Kali-Ann Docherty who bowled with great control and were able to restrict the batters with Freya getting the 1st break through and restricting Herts to 16/1 off 5 overs. Young off spinner Naaz Asif Iqbal (2/19) was then brought into the attack for the final over of the powerplay and executed the plan to perfection removing Kezia Hassall who had scored 50 in game 1 second ball before picking up a 2nd later in the over. This left Hertfordshire at 21/3 at the end of the powerplay. Berkshire were then able to squeeze through the middle phase with pace off options, Izzy Storrar picking up 1 wicket before her sister on debut picking up 1/7 off 3 overs with her leg spin. However, Shayna Chikhlia would once again prove the pick of the bowlers picking up 4/24. This took her tally to 7 for the day and 10 wickets against Hertfordshire for the season. This meant Berkshire secured a 62 run win with Herts finishing 95/9 and picking up a valuable bonus point.
Scorecard & Highlights – CLICK HERE
The bonus point we secured meant Berkshire sit top of the group on 13 points going into the final round of games. However, our opponents Wiltshire sit on 12 points and Devon (11 points) who travel to Hertfordshire (0 points) in the final round. This leaves the group very close with all to play for with only 1st place heading to finals day.
The Women have this weekend off and return to action next Sunday with 2x T20s against Wiltshire at Marlborough College.