Tuesday 24th June V Birmingham Women

Birmingham Women returned to the Graveyard with 5 experienced players and a couple inexperienced, although one a U11 county player in the 7. Again having won the toss, I learnt and listened from Sunday and decided to field first, with some tight bowling to begin with saw the dismissal of the one opener bowled. However, the number 1 batsman was punishing the bad ball, as were the following batsman coming in, with runs freely coming from extras the batters had it easy and were not put under pressure to score runs, Manjit then reaped the rewards for bowling straight with the important wicket of number 3. The runs from the bat soon dried up with two inexperienced batters at the crease although they were still putting the bad ball away and always taking singles, Birmingham finished with 114, although only 58 of these runs came off the bat, with 22 wides being bowled all worth two runs and 12 byes totalling 56 extras almost doubling their score, we need to learn the importance of bowling accurately consistently. 114 was a realistic target to get, we knew they would not give away as many extras and would be tight with their bowling, the two openers were out without any runs off the bat. Some good supportive work from 4,5,6 allowed myself to reach 33 when I had to retire with the lower order seeing off a few overs taking some singles when available, with 3 overs left and 6 down I returned to the crease and again some excellent supportive work and running by Manjit allowed a further 20ish to be added for no loss meaning Ashfield finished on 89-6, although 63 came off the bat and only 26 extras bowled it is clear to see the difference of bowling accurately consistently. Hopefully this has been another lesson learnt and with a couple of bowlers back next game we can improve upon this.

The game was finished off with a great curry provided by the Anson’s which was enjoyed by all home team and away team, thanks once again. And for Chris umpiring the whole game, both ends on his own.

Sara Eccleston 4-0-14-0
Michelle Cole 4-0-6-2

Michelle Cole 51*