Ladies are now in second position in the Women’s Midlands League after three convincing consecutive wins...against Walmley 2nd XI, Astwood Bank and Old Elizabethans by 5, 7 and 6 wickets respectively, the top three teams in the league. Huge all round effort and commitment as enabled us to do this. The Astwood Bank game was played on a very small and sloping pitch next to an open prison where two convicts had just escaped! We were asked to field first and bowled Astwood Bank out for 91in 25 overs they only managed to reach that target through the help of their star player who had just scored consecutive hundreds but a juggling catch by J. Stubbs off V.Arch’s bowling got her out on 47 and the other players struggled to get more than 4 runs each. Superb bowling from Vicki A ending with figures of 5-0-19-4 and S.Eccleston 7.4-0-28-3 ensured the total was gettable. And we achieved the target of 92 with 5 wickets lost thanks to some expansive batting by K.Huntington 33* and support work by J.Stubbs 14* who got the job done in quick time.
Walmley were always going to be a tough team to beat however, they were missing a fair few members of their squad and filled it with inexperienced and young players, we again were asked to field first they had experience and ability in the top 5 that could potentially see them through the forty overs and finish with a big score, however we were on form with the ball and although there were a few simple mistakes in the field including dropped catches the bowlers continued to work hard and restricted Walmely to 79 all out with Ma picking up figures of 8-0-24-4 and S.Eccleston 7.2-2-11-3 again knowing the bowling potential Walmley had it was not going to be an easy task the openers saw off the opening bowlers who were by far the best bowlers they had M.Hughes 24* and K.Huntington saw us through to 82-3.
Old Elizabethans were the next team we faced who we had narrowly lost to by 15 runs on the first game of the season with only 9 players, if we won this and restricted their bonus points we would be in 2nd place. The team duly obliged and bowled Old Elizabethans out for 75 with the great find of Nemo on debut finishing with figures of 6-0-16-4 a small target to reach and with only 9 players in the field made the job fairly simple we knocked off the runs in 24 overs for the loss of 4 wickets. So second place is ours.
We must not now rest on our laurels with Walmley next Sunday who are likely to be fielding a much stronger team than last time. We have the two weaker sides in the league to play home and away and Astwood Bank could we be looking at the chase for promotion in only our second season??!
Walmley were always going to be a tough team to beat however, they were missing a fair few members of their squad and filled it with inexperienced and young players, we again were asked to field first they had experience and ability in the top 5 that could potentially see them through the forty overs and finish with a big score, however we were on form with the ball and although there were a few simple mistakes in the field including dropped catches the bowlers continued to work hard and restricted Walmely to 79 all out with Ma picking up figures of 8-0-24-4 and S.Eccleston 7.2-2-11-3 again knowing the bowling potential Walmley had it was not going to be an easy task the openers saw off the opening bowlers who were by far the best bowlers they had M.Hughes 24* and K.Huntington saw us through to 82-3.
Old Elizabethans were the next team we faced who we had narrowly lost to by 15 runs on the first game of the season with only 9 players, if we won this and restricted their bonus points we would be in 2nd place. The team duly obliged and bowled Old Elizabethans out for 75 with the great find of Nemo on debut finishing with figures of 6-0-16-4 a small target to reach and with only 9 players in the field made the job fairly simple we knocked off the runs in 24 overs for the loss of 4 wickets. So second place is ours.
We must not now rest on our laurels with Walmley next Sunday who are likely to be fielding a much stronger team than last time. We have the two weaker sides in the league to play home and away and Astwood Bank could we be looking at the chase for promotion in only our second season??!
