Another beautiful Sunday for some women’s cricket! We have been blessed with the weather so far, and the performances of the team have been giving the ever expanding Sunday crowds some real entertainment to enjoy.

The ladies had some reasoned discussion about what to do should we win the toss, and this is exactly what we did, and it was decided that we would bat first on a low, slow UCG wicket. Having said this, the outfield was like lightning, just as was the case for the game on Saturday, so players would receive full value for shots, but the bowlers would certainly be in the game.

Jess Penney moved up to open the batting for the team, in the absence of Ellen, and did a sterling job, seeing off the new ball alongside her captain. Jess departed to be replaced by inform Lily, who kicked off in the same fashion as last week. At drinks we had reached 65 for the loss of just one wicket which no doubt put us in a strong position. Cath continued to hit away and managed to get to 30, before falling. This was to be our final wicket lost. Lily was joined by Charlie and between the two of them piled on runs in the last 10 overs, scoring at over a run a ball during this time. Charlie played a particularly selfless innings, hitting out appropriately for the good of the team and ensuring her sister had the chance to get towards another milestone.

With two balls to go in the innings, Lily found herself on 48*. Much to the dismay of the Upton players and crowd, she pulled the penultimate ball down to square leg where it was fielded and returned. It looked like it would end with a tantalising 49* for her, but thankfully the throw was wild and evaded the wicket keeper, resulting in an overthrow being taken. This saw Lily go through to another thoroughly deserved half century, which puts her over 50 runs clear at the top of the divisions run scoring charts and moving her up to 3rd in the overall standings for the women’s league and the Upton records for the 2018 season. Charlie finished off with 25* and the team finished with 140-2. A brilliant effort from the 4 who batted, all of whom contributed double figures to the score.

So half a job done, plenty to go. Early wickets got us on top and ahead of the game. Charlie and Madi opened up well, and got us on the board. Madi came within inches of a hat trick in the 6th over, which really gave Upton all the momentum. A rally from Hawarden saw things looking a little too close for comfort at 20 overs, but another cool and calm, economical spell from Hannah McGowan, put us back in control of the game. Good support from Gemma, Katja and Lily, meant that Hawarden always looked doomed to fall just short. However their number 4 batter, played a superb knock of 66* to get them up to just shy of full batting points.

Another great win, against a highly competitive but fun Hawarden Park side, who nearly all stuck around after the game for a drink and to socialise with our players and officials. It was a pleasure to play with them, and we hope to see a few of them down for our ladies day lunch on Saturday 23rd June and potentially for the 6-a-side comp, at the end of the season. If not, we look forward to the return fixture in September.

Thank you once more to all who helped with teas, and to Charlie Ward Snr for officiating. We go again against Lymm, in two weeks time. 75 points from 75 and a great start!

Scorecard can be found HERE