With a week off from league pressure, Ashford entertained Reigate Priory at Short Lane in a 30 over friendly. Ashford batted first, and Becky Halls and Hannah Merchant got them off to a brisk start, running well between the wickets to pick up all the runs on offer. They had taken the score to 67 when Merchant’s was the first wicket to fall, but Jenny Tippell took over where she had left off. When Halls fell for 27, Katie Butler joined Tippell, and together they pushed the scoring on, both of them finding the boundaries with ease. Their unbeaten partnership of 51 came off only 52 balls, and gave Ashford a total they were confident they could defend.

Ashford wasted no time getting amongst the wickets, with openers Yolandi Maynier and Katie Brown taking three in their first spell, leaving Reigate in trouble. Once again Ashford’s fielding was playing its part, with good catches by skipper Angharad Purser and Becky Halls. Sarah Taylor joined the attack, and claimed the next wicket, this time Jenny Tippell taking the catch. The next Reigate bat tried a strong pull to square leg, but top-edged the ball skyward. To Ashford’s relief, when it eventually came down again, it was back into the hands of the bowler, Ali McCreedy. Gill Bonham was the next fielder to be tested, and made it look easy when the ball was driven hard to her at mid on. With all their established bats back in the pavilion, Reigate fell further and further behind the asking rate, although some of their youngsters showed promise for the future, playing a few good strokes. Sarah Taylor and Angharad Purser shared the last five wickets, Hannah Merchant and Yolandi Maynier joining in with a couple more good catches, and Ashford ran out comfortable winners.

Ashford are back to league action next week, with a trip to Sibton Park, near Folkestone. They will be hoping to take this good form with them, and make up some ground on the two sides above them.

Match details

Match date

Sun 06 Jul 2014

Kickoff

14:00

Location

Short Lane

Team overview