Congratulations to the Swardeston-Great Melton Ladies 1sts, who beat top-of-the-table Cambridge City by four wickets on Sunday in the Iceni Women’s Premier League division 1.
The match was a vindication of youth with both teams exclusively comprising talented juniors: our team were all aged 13-15, with all Cambridge players under 17.
After losing two quick wickets (both going to O Bird in her first over), Cambridge’s experienced batters ran aggressively between the wickets and took advantage of gaps in the field created by Swardeston-Gt Melton being one player short.
Nevertheless, captain S Mohammed marshalled her bowling resources both well and fairly, with nine bowlers contributing 2-5 overs each. The final five of the 30 overs were impressively miserly, which ultimately restricted Cambridge City to 184-3. O Bird finished with 2-24 and A Hornbrook 1-26.
Swardeston-Gt Melton started rapidly in response, hitting boundaries and running hard, amassing 90 in the first ten overs. B Borges smashed 51 off 20 balls, L Downing a classy and urgent 35, and M Lowen a run-a-ball 15.
Losing four wickets for 14 runs made things look a little dicey, but only briefly – because A Lodge (13*) and O Bird (19*) stepped up to the challenge, showing great maturity and fine ball-striking to win by four wickets with four overs to spare.
This was an impressive performance with every player making a solid contribution. The win leaves the Ladies in third place, one point behind Downham Stow, with two matches remaining.
Roll on the next match – on Bank Holiday Monday!
