A week on from a disappointing batting collapse vs Sonning and a very grumpy coach, it was all high-fives and hugs in the St Sebs evening sunshine as Crowthorne Women pulled off a fantastic double victory over Cookham and then Binfield in the Super 8s pairs hardball.
With Gillian taking over the captaincy for Helena, who was nursing a broken finger and the effects of 2 visits to the Judge’s bench the previous evening it was Crowthorne who went out to field first.
It took all of 3 balls for Gillian to strike and then a well-executed run out by Leticia in over 4. The bowlers kept the Cookham batting quiet with Lorna taking 1-6 off 2 and Gillian 1-9 off 4 to restrict the oppo to net 248- a par score on a very good SS track.
New opening partnership of Gabi and Leticia faced some decent swing bowling but came back with a good score on the board. Kate and Lorna ran well between the wickets to keep the momentum going before Sophie and Gillian, after an initial run out scored quickly with Sophie reaching the boundary 4 times, before returning to the pavilion to finish her Latin homework. This left Steph and Lou (another victim of Saturday’s legal processes) to keep calm heads and show solid technique to get Crowthorne over the line for a very good win.
In came a new squad of players to take on Binfield. We had beaten them the previous week, but they turned up with added firepower in their ranks and beat Cookham comfortably in Match 2.
This time it was Captain Choppers (Marsha) at the helm and she sent Binfield in to bat. Lily opened the bowling and this time it took all of 4 balls for her to send the openers bails flying. Again, some very tight middle over bowling from Chloe, Sushma, Marsha and Gabi kept Binfield well under a good scoring rate before some fireworks at the end from Binfield’s stylish last pair got them up to 256. Gabi (who should have been revising for this morning’s chemistry GCSE) ended up with figures of 3-10, plus an admonishment from umpire G Finucane for an appalling beamer.
It had been a great fielding effort with the whole team chasing down lost causes with Nik Mansfield even bowing to the increasingly noisy crowd after a sharp one-handed stop at deep fine leg.
Gabi and Sushma were sent out to face the Binfield quicks and rotated the strike well with the loss of 2 wickets. Marsha and Chloe next- Marsha immediately proving she was listening at Friday’s practice with a glorious 4 through point. Chloe followed this up with 2 effortless boundaries of her own and Crowthorne were still in the hunt. Nik and Bindiya played sensibly against a good attack to tee up the last pair requiring 20. Lily and Jo were back up against the openers again and took 9 off the next 3 overs, crucially without loss, leaving 11 needed off the last. Lily thrashed the first ball through point for 4 followed by 2 dots and then a firm punch down the ground for 2.
5 from 2 needed- a quick yorker just missed leg stump but raced up the beautifully mowed SS outfield past fine leg for 4 byes. 1 needed…a lovely clip to midwicket with Jo backing up quickly the single complete and the celebrations began.
An awesome afternoon for the Women’s and Girl’s section - well hosted by the club. Thanks to all the people that helped on the day (4 scorers and 2 umpires included) to make it a great spectacle of cricket. The wins see Coyotes in 3rd but on the same points as leaders Wargrave and Sonning with 2 group games left.