Thornbury's Women 1st XI created history in not only representing the club in the first ever hardball competitive match at The Ship, but defeating an experienced Frenchay side in the process!
As a large crowd gathered in the evening sunshine, skipper Nina Leadbeater was asked to field on a firm dry surface. Openers Krishna & Oram took to the crease with Anjali taking the new ball. A good 1st over with only 1 on the board brought Emily Bogg to the Ship end for the 2nd over. With her 4th ball she trapped Krishna LBW for the 1st wicket and in the 3rd over, Anjali bowled Oram clipping the off stump. In Emily's 2nd over Frenchay batter Bliss top edged round the corner for Mollie Robbins to take an excellent diving catch leaving Frenchay reeling on 5-3.
Annie replaced Anjali at the garage end and in her 2nd over Hayley Lewis produced some excellent work behind the stumps and executed a fine stumping in removing Payne.
Following a slight recovery Rekha then deceived Patterson with her mystery spin and Frenchay were up against a rampant Thorns at 22-5. Frenchay needed a partnership and it came in the form of Carey & Tiley as they sensibly knocked the balls around picking up singles with the occasional boundary.
Jo, Gail & Gaenor bowled well without breaking the partnership and the score crept up to 80. Finally an excellent piece of fielding from Mollie at cover with a direct hit brought Thorns back into it. Davis & Tiley took the score over 100 and with the last ball Emily took her 3rd wicket with excellent personal figures of 3-6 off 3 overs as Frenchay finished on 103.
With the target set, openers Annie & Emily took to the crease. Richards opened the bowling for Frenchay and with a good pace restricted Thorns to just 1 off the 1st over. In the 2nd over Oram took Annie's off stump with the 3rd ball. Nina came in at 3 showing a positive intent from the outset with a couple of good drives. However, with last ball of the over Oram bowled an off stump yorker clipping the off stump to Nina's disappointment. Jo entered the fray at 4 and clipped the pacy Richards for 4 through mid wicket.
Emily started to impose herself with a couple of positive shots with the pair looking set. In the 5th over, Jo attempted a similar clip through mid wicket, but was trapped on the crease and was given LBW.
The score was 18-3 off 6 overs, which needed a partnership to bring Thorns back into the game. Mollie joined Emily at the crease and began to up the run-rate as both ran the singles with boundaries beginning to come. As Frenchay changed the bowlers in an attempt to make a breakthrough, both Emily & Mollie began to showcase their talent with shots all round the wicket. Mollie offered a difficult catch at backward point, but other than that no further chances were offered as Thorns reached their target in the 14th over! Emily finished on 49 not out and Mollie 38 not out.
A big cheer erupted as victory was secured. A glorious climax to a great team performance and the teams first league victory on a historic evening for TCC.
Team:
1 Emily Bogg
2 Annie Hawkins
3 Nina Leadbeater *
4 Jo Littlejohn
5 Mollie Robbins
6. Anjali Nair
7 Gail Curtis
8 Eva Bishop
9 Gaenor Harries
10 Rekha Nagaru
11 Hayley Lewis +