Review: Cheshire Women's Cricket League

Here are the latest developments in the Cheshire Women's Cricket League.

Division Three West – June 27:

Hawarden Park 112-1 (30; Nicola Deane 56, Abby Mayers 41) (25pts)

Chester Boughton Hall 2^nd XI 107-8 (30; Nandu Valliyil 44, Gemma Rose 25) (5pts)

After a tense finish, Hawarden clung on to preserve their unbeaten record.

Division Three East - June 21:

Woodley 112-5 (20; Madison Kay-Breen 38, Marika Smith 30, Marianne Lea 2-5) (25pts)

Didsbury 2^nd XI 110-6 (20; Rosie Davis 41, Chloe Hawes 24, Karen Pannett 3-16) (8pts)

Woodley’s 100 per cent league record came under serious threat as Didsbury threatened to chase down their imposing target, only to fall agonizingly short.

Stockport Georgians 2nd XI 65-1 (11.3; Blessing Neththasinghe 21*)

A massively encouraging result for Georgians, whose inexperienced line up had little difficulty here.

June 27:

Hawk Green 78-5 (20; Olivia Gladwin 3-8) (7pts)

Lymm Oughtrington Park 82-5 (14; Gladwin 20*)

Olivia Gladwin was in form with bat and ball to fire Lymm to their first win of the year.

Heaton Mersey & Cheadle 88-6 (20; Becky Scholes 4-3, Amelia Brereton 2-14) (6pts)

Stockport Georgians 2^nd XI 89-3 (15.5; Brereton 35ret, Louisa Boyle 35ret) (25pts)

(Two Georgians wickets were Retired Out so bonus points are not allocated for these)

A second commanding win in a matter of days for the young Stockport Georgians team sent them to the top of the table.

T20 Eastern Division – June 24:

Stockport Trinity Fire 94-9 (20; Ellie Mason 30ret, Roshini Prince-Navaratnam 3-10)

Didsbury Swordettes 98-0 (12.1; Mishel Jeena 33ret,  Prince-Navaratnam 31ret)

Stockport Trinity have dominated the Eastern Division in recent years, indeed their last defeat in the division was back in 2016, when Appleton also played in this region. However, their chances of topping the table this year look remote after this comprehensive win by Didsbury. Ellie Mason started the match by reaching the retirement score in just 17 deliveries, but this was as good as things got for Trinity.  Roshini Prince-Navaratnam took three wickets in the middle order and the last four wickets fell to run outs. Prince-Navaratnam then played her familiar role in getting the Didsbury reply off to a flying start, and her side now look excellently placed to top the Eastern Division for the first time.

June 27:

Stockport Georgians 115-7 (20; Liv Bell 33ret, Gaby McKeever 22, Kate Harvey 2-13, Ellie Mason 2-23)

Stockport Trinity Fire 116-2 (18.1; Emma Royle 30*, Harvey 30ret, Mason 21, Bell 2-21)

Amid the music blaring between overs and the barbecue smoke drifting onto the field, Trinity completed a superb run chase with all of 11 balls in hand. Georgians must have thought they had posted a challenging target after Gaby McKeever got them off to a flying start and Liv Bell kept the board moving in the later overs. However, the scores being achieved in the T20 format have risen noticeably this year, and teams batting first are being forced to revise their assessments of what might constitute a good total. Trinity scored 64 from 43 deliveries from the end of the 11^th over, with Emma Royle and Freya Jones adding 52 in 34 balls from the time they came together when Kate Harvey reached the retirement score. A Georgians win over Didsbury on Thursday would set up the possibility of a three-way tie at the top, where the divisional winners would be decided by net run rate, but here Didsbury have a significant advantage at present.

Northern Regional Final – June 27:

 Nantwich Vipers 87-4 (20; Katie Haszledine 24)

Sessay Emeralds 88-2 (14.3; Amy Burton 38*, Phoebe Turner 25)

Nantwich’s National Knockout adventure ended here in the regional final – the last eight nationally. After some superb wins in previous rounds, the Vipers found the task of beating leading Yorkshire club Sessay just too tough.

Northern Regional Plate Final – June 27:

Leigh 92-6 (20; Ellie Davey 42, Danielle Collins 26, Ellie Cowley 2-7, Imogen Cooper 2-12)

Wrenthorpe 93-3 (18.3; Beth Absolon 22, Gabriella Copley 21)

Leigh – beaten by Nantwich back in the first round – made the most of their early exit from the main competition by proceeding to this stage of the Plate, but like Nantwich today, they probably didn’t post enough runs batting first to be truly competitive. Nevertheless, the achievements this year of the clubs who entered the National have greatly enhanced the League’s standing and showed how well our clubs match up against teams from other leagues.