Ashford lost to Guildford by 41 runs

Ashford lost to Guildford by 41 runs
Surrey Women’s Cricket League, 9th May 2021

Guildford 216 – 5 (Nikki Chaudhuri 117*, Elize Brown 7-1-26-3)
Ashford 175 – 2 (Katie Butler 87*, Jenny Tippell 66*, Daisy Barnes 6-2-18-1)

Although Ashford suffered another defeat on Sunday, it was a much improved performance this week, including a batting partnership which smashed a club record that had stood for eight years. The visitors chose to bat first, and were soon on the attack, Liz Jurczenko hitting a glorious six over mid wicket. However, Elize Brown struck with the last ball of her third over, and when she bowled Guildford’s other opener with the first ball of her next, they were in some trouble at 20–2. With eleven players for the first time this season, Ashford worked well in the field, in the main restricting the batters to singles. Their problem this week was a shortage of bowlers. With only four front line bowlers in her side, Jenny Tippell had to find seven more overs from her three part timers. Amy Evans was the pick of these, threatening to get a wicket, but with 74 runs conceded from the seven overs, including 19 extras, Ashford knew they would be chasing a big score. Guildford were led by Nikki Chaudhuri, in top form, and fifteen boundaries allowed her to cruise to three figures, finishing unbeaten on 117 from only 102 deliveries. Ashford made inroads at the other end, but the middle order were all able to give Chaudhuri some support. Gayatri Sunkersett took a good catch off Ali McCreedy for her first league wicket, and Katie Butler’s quick thinking for a stumping gave Brown her third of the match. Tippell was eventually rewarded for beating the bat on numerous occasions, but Ambreen Nawaz was unlucky not to pick up anything in a good spell.

Chasing 217 to win from their 35 overs was never going to be easy. When both openers were out before they had even reached double figures, Ashford could easily have given up, but Katie Butler and Jenny Tippell were not going down without a fight. With the required run rate already close to 7 an over, there was only one way to play, and soon they were both finding the boundary with some crisp shots, and running well between the wickets. Guildford threw everything at them, but the pair were determined to stay out there until the end. Unfortunately the target proved to be just out of reach, but their thirty overs of positive batting brought 166 runs together, breaking the club record partnership for any wicket. Butler’s unbeaten 87 took her over 1500 runs for the club, and Tippell notched up her 7th league fifty on the way to 66, each of them hitting eleven fours.

A lot more to be positive about for Ashford this week, with some real backbone shown in their batting, and a good performance in the field.