As some of the nation’s attention turned to Wembley yesterday afternoon, it was Women’s Cricket and the Coyotes who took centre stage at St Sebs on a fantastic afternoon for the Club.
Whilst Raheem, Harry and Jordan did the business at Wembley, it was Gillian, Anita and Helena that were the driving force behind a squad of 15 fast-improving Coyotes in sweltering conditions. We were also pleased to give debuts to Kate, Amanda and Seetal.
The ladies first took on a much-changed Finch side from the one who we comprehensively beat a couple of weeks back. Despite some very tight bowling from Gillian F and Arch keeping Finch to a chasable 266, Coyotes lost a few too many wickets to ever get on top of the run rate and went down by a handful of runs.
The second match was always going to be the Big One. Wargrave have been a fierce competitor of late and the bar started to empty in anticipation of another nail biter against our new rivals. Wargrave were put into bat by Gillian and once again she kept a lid on things, with great support from Anita and Lou. Despite that start, Wargrave have some good batting right through the side and posted an intimidating looking 279 which looked a bit above par.
The Coyotes responded with a very mature and sensible approach to the chase. Steady partnerships throughout (Gill F/Anita, Rish/Lou and Sarah E/Bindiya) kept us up with the required rate. The last pair of Jo and Helena had the nerve-wracking task of getting us over the line with a now-vociferous crowd cheering them on. Despite an early wicket and leaving themselves 13 off the last 2, they both ran hard and smashed boundaries to see the ladies to a brilliant win.
This left all teams having won a game each with all to play for in the mid-afternoon heat. Slough batted well against us and posted a challenging 274. This was despite a fantastic bowling effort from Anita who took 3 wickets (including 2 in one over) to claim her Crowthorne Baggy Green. Gill O was also later to receive her first Baggy Green for her superb batting in the previous home tournament with Slough and Warfield.
Slough kept it very tight with the ball and although we batted solidly, we didn’t quite get our big hits away and the last pair had too much to do to pull it back. Well done to Slough- they are a much- improved team.
This didn’t dampen the spirits of the players who all went home with the satisfaction of being part of a great event. The whole day was a huge success, and the other clubs have all paid their compliments on what a tournament should look like, and for making women’s cricket the centre piece of the day.
Massive thanks to all the volunteers who helped score, umpire, make cakes, sell plants, run the bar and make the ground a superb venue for tournament cricket.
I hope Gareth Southgate enjoyed his post-match Hobbers Gobbers as much as I did.
Matt