On my first outing to the press box this summer I ventured across the country to the county ground at Northampton to see the birth of a new competition, the Women’s T20 County Cup. Over a period of three weeks squeezed between the two May Bank holidays the club players in tier 3 from Northumberland in the North to the far corners of Cornwall in the south west will be mixing it with the semi professionals of tier 2 and the internationals of tier 1.
In episode 339 (see link below) of The Paddock and The Pavilion Rosa Simkin of Rosa Talks Ball went for Lancashire CCC as the first winners on May’s second bank holiday Monday on finals day at Taunton.
For my own part on my arrival, I was checking to see how my home county Cambridgeshire was faring against Herefordshire. My first thoughts were not positive as Cambridgeshire only mustered 102/8 but in a low scoring match they scraped home by 9 runs.
Delighted by the news, I looked forward to the all tier 2 clash between the Northamptonshire Steelbacks and the Worcestershire Rapids on a chilly but bright day in Northampton. Both sides had made identical starts to their tier 2 season winning two of their opening three Metro Bank 50 over matches, so a tight contest was expected.
Chloe Hill, the visitors’ captain and wicket keeper, won the toss and decided to bat on a surprisingly green wicket. And after 15 balls the Rapids were 11/3. Bethan Robinson took a wicket with her second ball bowling Bryony Gillgrass, her first, and impressed in early exchanges with her pace and bounce.
Worcestershire recovered through their skipper Chloe Hill and Sophie Beech (15) to reach 60/4 in the 12th over and looked like posting a reasonable target. “I felt we were quite composed and three or four more overs of us we would have got a competitive total,” said Hill. But they lost their way mid innings and slumped to 67/7, adding only seven runs in five overs.
A late rally by tailenders saw the Rapids finish on 96/8 in their 20 overs.
Hill, who last season played for the South East Stars in the franchise set up top scored with 18.
The Steelbacks start was the complete opposite. Openers Gemma Marriott (24) and Abigail Butcher (16) reached 38/0 at the end of the power play. Skipper Marriott scored three boundaries in the 5th over which included a sumptuous shot off the back foot through the point region.
Despite the promising start both openers were dismissed with the score on 45 and at that stage you did wonder whether the challenges of the pitch offered the visitors a glimmer of hope. But Katherine Speed and Amelia Kemp (23) added 34 for the 3rd wicket and despite two late wickets by Jess Beach, the home side reached their target, five wickets down with 22 balls to spare.
After the game Chloe Hill reflected on the defeat.
“We definitely didn’t have enough runs on the board but as they showed us if you bowl well, you can restrict a team, and anything can happen in a T20. As it took them nearly seventeen overs to get the runs it showed the wicket wasn’t easy to play on. Credit to Phoebe Brett and Jess Beach who bowled really well in that situation with a low total.
“Realistically I think fifteen or twenty more runs and they would have probably struggled to get the score on the board just with how well we bowled in the end.
“But certain aspects of our fielding let us down with such a low total and you need to be really strong in the field. All in all, we weren’t on top in all three aspects.”
Northamptonshire Steelbacks now face a trip to Shropshire, who beat Norfolk by 46 runs in the opening round. A win against the tier 3 outfit could open up a chance of a quarter final spot as they are scheduled to play fellow tier 2 side Leicestershire at home in the last sixteen.
Personally, I am hoping Cambridgeshire can grab their chance of glory and defeat Northumberland in round two on Saturday 10 May. Victory there against a fellow tier 3 county would see them host either Berkshire or Kent, both tier 2, in the last sixteen.
A busy three weeks of T20 County Cup action has begun.
Stephen Wallis