Second win for Women’s XI
Shropshire’s Women made it two wins from two games in their 50 over campaign with a convincing victory over Nottinghamshire.
Skipper Lara Jones elected to field after winning the toss at Allscott Heath CC and was rewarded early on with left-arm swing bowler Ruby Wardle taking two wickets to leave visitors Nottinghamshire 18-2.
Shropshire then had a tricky spell in the field when Notts rebuilt and looked odds on, helped by a few dropped catches, to accumulate a big score.
However, Shropshire fought back with Amy Griffiths and Caitlin Belcher (3-28) bowling well in tandem to slow the run rate and take vital wickets to put Shropshire back on top.
The Notts tail hoped to wag but the wily off spin of Robyn Mathews put paid to that with a quick-fire spell of 3-2 off 2.3 overs as they were bowled out for 154.
After losing an early wicket the experienced pair of Jones (30) and Mathews (50) came together to put on 95 for the second wicket to put Shropshire in a great position.
As opposed to last time out, they strolled to victory with a very mature chase with youngsters Lauren Kenvyn (25 no) and Griffiths seeing the team home with few scares as they won by six wickets with 22 overs left.
Coach Darrell Corfield said: “It was a very good performance and I would be nit-picking if talked too much about the overs in the field where we lost our focus.
“Credit to the captain and the rest of the team for overcoming that spell to bowl out what, on paper, looked a very good batting team.
“We learned from the mistakes in our chase last time out, although we did win that too, to record a very comprehensive win. It is good to see the team really gelling together and with healthy competition for places in the squad it bodes well for the rest of the season.”
The team take a little break from 50 over cricket when they take on Worcestershire and Warwickshire in T20 matches over the next May bank holiday weekend.
Cricket Shropshire’s Under 18 Girls were also in action when they took on Staffordshire at Whitchurch in a 50 over game.
After being put in, lots of batters got in but then got out as Shropshire were dismissed for 153 with Lauren Kenvyn hitting 20 and Millie Parry 21.
In reply, Staffordshire reached their victory target for the loss of four wickets with Freya Jones, Amy Griffiths and Isabelle Crann picking up one apiece.
Pictures courtesy of Edwin Wilkes.
