Women's cricket in this country received a huge boost when England were triumphant in the recent World Cup. With Nottinghamshire's Women hosting Scotland's Women at Welbeck Colliery Cricket Club, we headed off to have a nosey.
It's been a good week for Nottinghamshire's Women team as four of their players have been called up to play in the Women's Super League, which kicks off on the 10th of August. The Super League is a national twenty-20 competition featuring 8 franchises and is the pinnacle of women's domestic cricket in this country. Georgina Boyce, Lucy Higham and Sonia Odedra have all been selected by Loughborough Lightning while Jodie Dibble will be off to play for Western Storm, who are captain by the England skipper Heather Knight.
Having won the toss, Notts elected to bat first in the picturesque surrounds of the John Fretwell Sporting Complex and they made a good start, reaching 47 without loss in the 9th over. Sonia Oderdra was the first batter out, having scored 23, although she was soon followed by Georgie Boyce (25) who was bowled by one that wobbled a bit off the pitch. Jodie Dibble also made 25 before being strangled down the leg-side and caught by the wicketkeeper, and Lucy Higham had reached 29 before she was brilliantly caught by the bowler in the final over. All of which meant that Notts posted 124-4 from their twenty overs with each of the Super League stars getting a decent score.
In reply Scotland were up against it from the first over - Sonia Odreda proving to be too quick for the Scotland opener and after 5 dot balls, she trapped her LBW. Then it looked like Scotland might get lucky with the weather as the umpires led the players off due to rain. However, it only lasted long enough for the first cover to reach the middle and it was only a matter of minutes before play resumed. When it did, Jodie Dibble took two quick wickets, the second on slightly fortunate as it was bowled off the pad, leaving Scotland on 15-3 in the 7th over.
Rebecca Widowson took the fourth wicket in the 9th over, building pressure before drawing a false stroke that led to an easy catch on the leg-side. Scotland started to hit their stride after that but after a partnership of 34, they lost another wicket as a smart piece of fielding at long-on led to a run out. Amy Gauvrit then got in on the action, drawing the batter forward and getting the stumping following good work behind the wicket by. A suicidal run-out on the last ball of the innings really had no bearing on the result as Scotland finished on 93-7 and while it was a great recovery from 34-4 at the halfway stage, it still meant that Notts won by 31 runs.
It was great to see some cricket where every boundary was deliberate rather than a bottom-handed mishit that flies away thanks to modern pressed bats. The fielding was also universally excellent, with no easy singles on the square and no twos out in the deep. A weather interrupted draw later in the day against Essex Women saw Nottinghamshire Women win the second division of the T20 league and so will play in Division One next season.
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