Ashford beat VRA (Amsterdam) by 8 wickets

VRA 125 – 4 (M Koster 50* ret., Jenny Tippell 4-2-9-1)
Ashford 129 – 2 (Katie Butler 44*, Z de Gongh2-0-12-1)

Ashford played hosts on Friday to VRA, touring from the Netherlands, and the sides enjoyed a thrilling T20 game in the evening sunshine. The Dutch batted first, and despite losing two early wickets, they weren’t afraid to play their shots and soon got the run rate up to 6 an over. They were led by M Koster, who batted beautifully, manoevering the fielders around as she found the boundary almost at will. She was dropped in the twenties, and as she moved on to her unbeaten fifty, it looked like that could prove to be a crucial mistake. After she retired, her team mates continued running well between the wickets, and took the VRA total to an impressive 125.

Ashford faced a stiff task, but Hannah Merchant got them off to a good start, then Katie Butler carried on with the attacking play. When she was joined half way through the innings by Rhianna Southby, Ashford still needed over 70 more runs, but they kept up with the asking rate, both playing some glorious shots. Nineteen runs needed off the last three overs became eight off the last two, then just three from the last. It was Koster’s turn to show her skill with the ball now, and Ashford could only get two runs from her first four deliveries. With the field up to stop the single, and nerves fraying around the boundary, Southby managed to get the 5th ball through for 4, and Ashford were home with just a ball to spare.

Alison McCreedy