Women and Girls' Cricket

Ampleforth Festival

Day 1

Essex v Yorkshire
Essex 163 for 9 in 40 overs
Beth MacGregor 40, Joanne Cook 35, Kara Tolemon 34
Yorkshire 160 all out in 34.2 overs
Rachel Barron 3-28, Joanne Cook 2-35, Lily Ainsley 2-36
Essex win by 3 runs

In a very close fought match, Essex came out on top with an excellent fighting display in the field. Having batted first, steady batting gave Essex a good score in their 40 overs. Yorkshires reply was always ahead of the run rate, but Essex kept chipping away at the wickets, Rachel picking up the best figures. But in the end Beth MacGregor was the star of the show, bowling what turned out to be the last over of the match with Yorkshire needing just 8 to win, the first ball of the over went for 4. Beth held her nerve to produce an inswinger next ball that hit middle stump and completed the win for Essex.

Day 2

Essex v Kent
Kent 236 for 3 in 40 overs

Essex 139 all out in 38.4 overs
Joanne Cook 26
Lost

A heavy defeat against a full strength Kent team. Positives were the consistency of Joanne Cook’s all round game, Rachel Barron bowling well again despite being hampered by injury, and some decent lower order batting from Emma Stubbings.

Day 3

Essex v Cumbria
Essex 125 for 9 in 40 overs
Beth MacGregor 25
Cumbria 70 all out in 25.5 overs
Rebekah Huggins 3-3, Joanne Cook 3-6
Won by 55 runs

Essex batted first and Beth and Joanne got the team off to a steady start taking the score to 59, this was followed by a minor collapse but Becky Palmer and Lily Ainsley took the score to 125. Essex bowling was always in control, on what proved to be a difficult wicket to bat on, as they took wickets at regular intervals to bowl out Cumbria for 70.

Day 4

Essex v Surrey
Essex 105 all out
Joanne Cook 28
Surrey 106 for 3 in 28 overs
Lost

The 3rd / 4th place playoff on the final day ended the week with a disappointing batting display from Essex having been 80 for 3, we collapsed to 105 all out.