with dramatic Super Over win…..
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The Soroptimist East of England County Championship is a new competition played between the Hertfordshire women’s side and the women teams of Buckinghamshire, Huntingdonshire and Norfolk. Initially the competition should have taken place between April and June in 2020 with each team playing 6 games in a 50 over contest. Of course, that needed to be cut back, both in matches and overs to three 45 over games each.
Herts Women’s first rescheduled game was to be at home to Norfolk but the weather put pay to that and a new date was quickly found, this meant all 3 of the Womens league games took place in an action packed 8 days. The first game was in played in Stamford against Huntingdonshire at the beautiful Burghley Park ground. The home side won the toss and decided to bat and were soon in trouble. Charley Phillips took 5/22 as Hunts Women finished on 108 all out. There were also two wickets for Lydia Borbas and one each for Ella Phillips, Amy Price and Daisy Fitzgerald.
Herts openers Lizzie Ruxton and Amelia Kemp set the foundations of the chase with a half century stand and it looked like the only thing that could beat Herts was the incoming bad weather. Seconds before the rain came Lizzie was trapped LBW for 17. It looked all over as a draw as the rain came down and still just under 4 overs for a DLS result to stand. Fortunately, the rain did stop long enough for the game to continue, not only long enough for an DLS result, but a result outright as Amelia hit an impressive half century aided by a well-made 22 by Elsa Barnfather to get past the Huntingdonshire total.
The Bank Holiday weekend was the climax of the league and with the way the other results went the final game v Norfolk looked like it would be the title decider. Both games had venue changes at the last minute and both were held at Harlow CC. In the game v Buckinghamshire, the Herts women were in the field first. Bucks got off to a slow start but did not lose many wickets and were well placed at 96 for the loss of only one wicket. However, a fine spell by Daisy 4/37 and some great catching especially from Catherine Cirkel brought Herts back in the game. Two wickets from Amelia and a run out in last over of the innings saw Bucks settle for 177 all out.
A solid start was needed but an unnecessary run out put Herts on the back foot. A fast scoring partnership between Amelia and skipper Kezia Hassell got the team back on track but with Kezia out caught the total soon after was 79/5, but Amelia was crucially still at the crease. Partnerships with both Catherine and then Amy got the score within 25 of victory before Amy was caught on the boundary and then yet another unnecessary run out put the game in the balance again. Amelia took 14 off the 38th over but off the last ball went for one drive too many getting caught at mid-off for a magnificent 97.
This left last wicket pair of Charley and Daisy to find the 7 runs needed for victory. That they did slowly taking over 4 overs to do it with some minor scares on the way, Herts winning by one wicket.
That meant the next day, as suggested, was indeed the title decider with Norfolk who had also won their 2 games. Herts won the toss and were soon in trouble with Amelia showing truly what a funny game cricket is by hitting a full toss in the air and departing first ball, the second ball of the game. The disastrous start continued with Elsa being bowled off the last ball of the first over. It got a lot worse for the home side and at the fall of the eighth wicket only 46 runs were on the board. A 26-run partnership between Ella and wicket keeper Tilly Larkins managed to lift the score above 70 before the team were bowled out with a disappointing score of 74.
In the field the Herts side threw everything at the Norfolk opening pair with Ella and Charley both beating the bat on numerous occasions. However, Norfolk managed to get to 31 without loss. Skipper Kezia turned to slow left armer Lizzie with Amelia bowling from the other end. The change worked immediately with the Norfolk Skipper stumped by Tilly off Lizzie and Amelia getting both the Number 2 and 3 batters in the next over. Unbelievably the next four overs contained a wicket a piece and the Norfolk side slipped from 31 for 0 to 43 for 7. The game was far from over and the 8th wicket had two of Norfolk most experience players at the crease. At 58 for 7 Kezia changed back to the opening bowlers with the combined figures of Lizzie and Amelia of 12 overs 2 maidens 7 wickets for 28 runs, half of which were wides, a job well done. Norfolk got within 9 of victory when Ella managed to trap the Norfolk wicket keeper bang in front of the stumps. Going into the 24th over and only 5 needed Charley got another LBW decision with the batter playing no shot. The rest of the over saw Norfolk scramble 4 runs and with one to win Charley again struck the pad of the batter in front of the stumps and the game was tied.
The game was not over as the rules of the competition meant that the game would be decided by a super over with Norfolk batting first. With the Herts side gaining more bonus points over the 3 league games they needed to match the Norfolk score in the super over to win the title and tie the game. A superb over from Charley saw 2 dots, 2 singles, a leg bye and a 2. Therefore 5 runs were needed to tie and win the league or six to win both the game and the league.
Kezia and Amelia went in to bat and things looked good with a wide bowled and Kezia taking a single so 2 runs off 1 ball. The next ball Amelia hit the ball straight to the same fielder for her second golden duck of the day. Charlotte Banks was Herts 3rd batter in and although having a good season with the bat went in to bat on the back of two ducks over the weekend. A dot ball increased the tension before Charlotte managed to get Kezia back on strike with a single. With 2 needed off 2 balls Kezia cut the ball for the 2 runs required. The extraordinary game had an extraordinary ending with the Norfolk skipper kicking the ball away in frustration allowing Kezia and Charlotte to run a 3rd to also win the match.
Hertfordshire Women's team after the Norfolk game
It will be a weekend not to be forgotten for a while for all the Hertfordshire coaches, players and supporters and certainly the innings in the field was the best seen in a long time. To be the first winners of the Soroptimist East of England trophy is quite an achievement and hopefully the first of many for this young side.
The team now embarked on the T20 competition which runs through September.
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