Sussex Under 15 and 17 Girls win Semi Final of the County Championships

Both the Sussex girls under 15 and under 17 sides have reached the County Championship final after winning their semi final matches on Saturday 5th September.

Under 15s

The under 15's were away to Hampshire in their semi final.  Having played Hampshire in a friendly at the start of the season and losing by 1 run off the last ball, Sussex were looking to improve this time. The side did have a few players missing as they were playing for the under 17’s, but the team spirit was fantastic throughout the day and everyone put in the hard work.

Hampshire won the toss and elected to bat first and opening bowler Samantha Wright put in a sterling performance with her opening spell only going for 2 and leading to the run out of opening batsman. Sophie Parnell then took the 2nd wicket with Georgia Aloof taking the 3rd. Sussex bowled ticket lines throughout and kept the runs down, with Hampshire finishing on 137 off their 35 overs.

Pick of the Sussex bowlers were Samantha Wright, 0 for 9 off 6 and Georgia Aloof 1 for 15 off 5.

Sussex lost two early wickets in the 7th over, which lead to Sophie Parnell and Rebecca Silk to come in and push for the runs. Rebecca was soon caught out and Sophie was joined by a number of players and kept the runs going, but unfortunately wickets were falling around her fast.

By the time Sophie was joined by number 11 batsman Sophie Bowen, Sussex were on 109 off 26 overs, but with some sensible batting from both Sophie’s and both of them rotating the strike, all that was needed was 3 runs with 3 overs left.

With 1 run needed, Sophie Bowen hit the winning run in a very close match and leading the side into the final of the County Championship. Player of the day goes to Sophie Parnell who put in a fantastic performance with the bat finishing on 77 not out.

The Sussex under 15’s will now play Wales in the final on Saturday 19th September at Worcestershire.

Under 17s

The Sussex under 17’s were also away but to Warwickshire. On an overcast damp day the start was delayed by an hour and after Sussex won the toss and elected to field it seemed all the luck was with Sussex.

It was probably one of the best bowling performances all season by the side with Hannah Phelps and Melissa Ferguson opening the bowling and missing the edge a number of times. Melissa took the breakthrough bowling out the opening batsman for 9.

Lucy Uncles and Izi Noakes then came into the attack and continued to bowl a tight line and length, with wickets coming at regular intervals, which lead to Warwickshire being bowled out for 89 off 44 overs.

Pick of the bowlers were Izi Noakes who took 3 for 10, Melissa Ferguson 2 for 10 and Lucy Uncles, Hannah Phelps, Chiara Green and Georgia Adams all taking 1 wicket.

Georgia Adams and Chiara Green started the innings well, putting on a partnership off 25 off 8 overs before Georgia was caught. Chiara soon followed after also being caught, which left Melissa Ferguson and Hannah Phelps at the crease to push the runs ever closer to the target.

Sussex lost one more wicket before they reached the total within 25 overs, with Hannah Phelps scoring 27 and Melissa Ferguson finishing on 20 not out.

The under 17’s will now play Yorkshire in the County Championship final on Saturday 19th September with the venue still to be confirmed. 

Sussex Women & Girls’ Community Coach, Charlotte Burton said “ It is fantastic that both the under 15’s and 17’s have reached the final of the County Championship, both teams have worked extremely hard throughout the winter and summer and deserve to reach the final. A lot of hard work has gone into both teams over the last year and it shows with a number of notable performances throughout the season from all players and I am sure this will continue in the final on Saturday as both sides are determined to bring home a trophy”.