Women’s XI heading to T20 final at Arundel
Cricket Shropshire’s Women’s XI are heading to the prestigious Arundel Castle later this month to play in the national final of their Vitality Blast T20 campaign against Dorset.
They finished well clear at the top in their League 3 Division 2B group after the final round of games with nine wins out of ten in the competition.
The game takes place on Sunday, June 28.
It continues their success from last year when again they topped their T20 group and qualified for the final, only to be beaten at the hands of Oxfordshire.
They will be hoping to go one better this year and gain promotion, as they did in their Metro Bank One Day Cup campaign last year when they beat the same opposition in the final to gain promotion.
Their final group games this season saw them travel to Colwall CC to take on Herefordshire – where they did suffer a minor setback.
In the first game of the day, they restricted their hosts to 125-3 from their 20 overs with skipper Lara Jones claiming 2-17 from her four overs.
Shropshire’s reply stuttered as they lost wickets at regular intervals and despite Millie Parry hitting 33 off 26 balls and Harriet Shuker 23, they were bowled out for 115 with nine balls to spare in their innings.
They made amends in the afternoon in the second game after Jones won the toss and elected to bat first.
This time they hit 158-3 off their 20 overs with Libby Thomas anchoring the innings with an unbeaten 53 and Cerys Tippings hitting 46 off just 30 balls.
Jones again led the way with the ball taking 4-10 from her four overs. Sanvi Surapaneni chipped in with 2-9 as Herefordshire were restricted to 97-8 to give Shropshire victory by 61 runs.
Coach Sam Whitney said: “Sunday was a very good test for us, Herefordshire came out and played positively in the first game, the openers especially.
“We pulled it back through the middle overs with Lara and Izzy, and then Sanvi bowled beautifully at the end in her first game.
“125 was a very chaseable target, and we were in control in the first half of the innings. Their spinners then took over. Millie Parry batted beautifully and Harriet Shuker nearly got us over the line.
“It would have been nice to go through unbeaten, but we needed that tough game before the final, and I think we will be better for it.
“We came out firing in the second game, Cerys punishing anything loose and batting with great intent.
“Libby batted as she has all season, composed, rotated the strike and put away the bad balls. Her form at the top of the innings has been a huge part of why we have been successful.
“With the ball, Lara again was our standout bowler, hooping the ball round corners and coming away with superb figures yet again.
“She has bowled us back into games on numerous occasions, used her experience and deserves every accolade. To finish as the leading wicket taker in all of tier 3 at an average of less than 10 is a great achievement.
“Izzy again backed her up and also took an unbelievable one-handed catch to dismiss the dangerous Herefordshire opener.
“Looking ahead, there is a real feeling of excitement. We have the experience of being there last year which I think will give us an advantage and we proved we can perform on the big stage after last year’s 50-over win.
“Obviously Libby has been our rock at the top of the order and Lara has been superb with the ball, but we have match winners throughout the team and everyone has had their moments throughout the season to contribute to winning games.”