Ashford's women off to a winning start in 2021

Ashford beat Twickenham by 23 runs, friendly, 18 th April 2021

Ashford 164-6 (Katie Butler 67*, Sarai Knight 6-0-18-4 including a hat trick)
Twickenham 141-7 (Angela Clark 58, Lesley Johnson 55, Beth Jefferies 5-0-26-4)

Sunday at Short Lane brought a much needed escape from the trials over the winter, with
unbroken sunshine and two well matched teams glad to be back on the field. Jenny Tippell
won the toss, and chose to bat, sending Elize Brown and Amy Evans in to open for
Ashford. They got off to a brisk start, not afraid to play their shots, and had 22 on the board
when Brown fell lbw to Sarai Knight, the Twickenham captain. Nine runs later and Ashford
were in deep trouble. Knight had Evans caught at mid on, Ashford skipper Tippell out lbw
to her first ball, and took another lbw to complete her hat trick, leaving the home side on
31-4. With rebuilding required, Katie Butler took charge at the crease, and got things
gradually back on track, well supported firstly by Lakeesha Walia, then for the last ten
overs by Kathryn Ringshaw, who wasted no time hitting an unbeaten 25, her highest score
for the club. Butler steered Ashford to a very respectable total of 164 from their 30 overs,
and was undefeated on 67 from only 69 deliveries.

Ashford were soon up and running with ball in hand, Lakeesha Walia taking the first wicket
with the Twickenham reply on only 13. However, Angela Clark and Lesley Johnson had
other ideas, and their big shots were backed up by good running between the wickets. By
the 22 nd over the pair had added a hundred to the score and both passed 50, when Tippell
brought Beth Jefferies into the attack. She struck almost at once, Kathryn Ringshaw taking
a good catch, and soon had two more, putting the pressure on Twickenham’s lower order.
Tippell was working her magic at the other end, bowling well, and although Ashford had
missed a few half chances earlier in the game, Elize Brown made no mistake at slip, diving
to her left to hang on to the ball. Jefferies got her fourth wicket, easily her best bowling
performance for the club, with Katie Butler finishing off a fine day by taking a sharp chance
behind the stumps, and Ashford were home by 23 runs.

An excellent start to a hopefully long season for Ashford, who despite a little early season
rustiness looked good in the field, and worked well together. Krishna Rathod made a very
promising senior debut, bowling a good spell which asked questions of the batsmen.
Another friendly next week against Chertsey gives the side more match practice, before
their first Surrey league match of the season at Reigate Priory on 2 nd May.