Bells Yew Green Girls win the Regional Double!

U13 and U15 teams make it to the National Finals of the Lady Taverners Competition

20th August 2009

On a glorious day, on Sunday 16th August, Bells Yew Green U13 and U15 Girls teams battled it out in the regional finals of the Lady Taverners Competition at Chigwell School, Essex. Representing Sussex they faced teams from counties across the South East, from Suffolk and Hertfordshire to Kent. In this 8-a-side 8 over competition games are very intense, fast and furious.

Under 13s

The U13 team playing in a round robin tournament started with a hiccup for BYG, put into bat, they scored a respectable 69 off 8 overs with great knocks by Sarah Martins and Paige Scolfield. But poor bowling and fielding allowed North London to snatch a victory by one run on the last ball.

“All credit to the BYG team as they picked themselves and beat Hemel Hempstead comfortably in the second game” said coach Steve Martins.

With one game remaining all four teams were able to win the tournament and BYG needed to beat St Lawrence, Canterbury and exceed their score by at least 28 runs to go through. The openers laid a solid foundation enabling BYG to notch up 78, the best score of the day, with Jess Chapman scoring another 20. All that was needed was some tidy bowling and fielding. Early wickets and great keeping by Becky Upfold put pressure on St Lawrence. Excellent bowling by Nicki Howell and Rachel Mc Kernan, and superb fielding throughout by Lucy Knott restricted St Lawrence to 48 ...and now the Nationals!!

Under 15s

The U15 competition was split into two groups. BYG first played Kelveden & Feering CC, Essex. Batting first, they set a useful score of 64 for no wickets, with Alice Richards retiring at 25. Kelveden replied strongly with 31 after 4 overs, but the loss of the opening bats (1st bowled by Maria Young and 2nd caught behind by wicket keeper Imi Dell), together with tight bowling, slowed the run rate. Left with a lot to do, they were pinned down in the last over by spinner Sophie Bowen and they finished short of their target with 49 for 2 wickets.

The girls then played Stradbroke CC, Suffolk. BYG batting first, dominated from the first ball, they scored an impressive 104 for no wickets. Alice Richards and Sam Wright both had to retire having passed the required 25 mark. Bells Yew Green then proceeded to bowl the opposition all out in 7 overs for 27 runs. The first batsman was caught and bowled by Maria Young with a further 4 wickets for 2 runs by Sophie Bowen. The rest of the wickets were taken by Beth Hirst and Issi Michie with a good effort from Anna Wotton.

The final was a hard fought match played against the winners from the other group, Colfiens from Kent. In a Kent V Sussex final, BYG were once again put into bat first. Some fine bowling from Colfiens kept the BYG score down to 61 for 3 wickets with Sam Wright and Issi Michie exceeding 25. Colfiens started well but a maiden over by Alice Richards put them behind the run rate. Tight bowling and some sharp wicket keeping from Imi Dell meant that the batters could not find their stride. Wickets then taken in consecutive overs by Maria Young, Beth Hirst and Sam Wright, slowed the run chase further, which ended at 49 for 3. There were emotional scenes from the winners!

The team manager, Linda Bowen, said “The girls worked so hard, they made every ball count. They were running 2s, 3s and the occasional 4 on a big boundary. I am very proud of them all!”

Both teams will now go forward to represent London and the South East region in the National Finals of the Lady Taverners Competition at Ellesmere in Shropshire on 30th August.