Ashford beat Letchworth by 128 runs

Ashford 204 – 5 (Becky Halls 79, Jo Hankin 9-0-31-2)
Letchworth 76 (Lou Pearson 18, Alison McCreedy 5-5-0-3)

Ashford’s incredible start to the season in Division 1 continued, with their strongest performance yet, which should consolidate their position as league leaders. On a cold and very windy day, Ashford were put in to bat, and their innings went entirely according to plan. Becky Halls and Elize Brown opened the innings, and got their heads down to see off the new ball and the Letchworth strike bowlers, although progress was slow, with only 24 runs coming off the first fifteen overs. Brown did a fine job supporting her Captain to set up a solid platform for the innings, and when Katie Butler joined Halls, they were able to capitalise on it, and gradually increase the run rate. With Butler scoring quickly and Halls starting to find the boundary with ease, the two added 109 in just under 20 overs, a new club record for the 2nd wicket. Butler was caught for 34, and when Halls fell just two overs later for 79, the innings could have lost its momentum. However, Jenny Tippell and Ali McCreedy added another 41 runs in just under six overs, thanks to good running between the wickets, and some wonderful clean hitting by Tippell. Angharad Purser took over when McCreedy was out, and 13 off the last 9 balls took the Ashford score past 200, leaving Tippell unbeaten on 40 from only 28 deliveries.

Letchworth soon discovered that Tippell is just as destructive with the ball as she is with the bat, reducing them to 4-2 by the end of her third over. Once again her opening partner, Hannah Merchant, bowled with no luck, repeatedly beating the bat only to see the ball miss the stumps by the narrowest of margins. With positive running, and some attacking shots, Letchworth kept themselves well up with the required run rate, and were starting to look dangerous. Ashford needed to break the partnership, and it was Amy Evans who did so, taking a very sharp catch at point, off Brown’s bowling. Merchant’s throw to Butler behind the stumps brought a run out to get Ashford their fourth wicket, then Evans pulled off an even better catch, diving to her left, to give Yolandi Maynier her first. When Butler ran round to take a high catch to leave Letchworth at 51-6, the match was effectively over, as the lower order were not prepared to take on the Ashford bowling, and with the batsmen not taking risks, Ashford struggled to take the last four wickets, essential to maximise their bonus points for the game. They tried seven bowlers, who all bowled well with no reward, until Tippell hit the stumps again to pick up her third victim. It was a remarkable spell from McCreedy which finished things off for Ashford, with three wickets in her five maiden overs, taking the side to a thoroughly deserved victory with four overs to spare.

Alison McCreedy