IN the latest round of matches of the womens’ indoor cricket competition sponsored by Thurrock Sports Council, Thurrock cricket club edged home against Belhus with just four balls to spare in this gripping fixture at Gable Hall school, Corringham, on Thursday evening.
Belhus batted first with opening batsman Tracey Sloan striking a powerful 25 not out, in a knock which included one six and three fours and was supported well by Crystal Gansbuhler who struck two fours in an innings of 18 runs. The innings closed on 79 for the loss of four wickets as Jackie Trigg claimed one wicket for just nine runs from two wickets, her wicket being that of Belhus opener Tracey Fairweather. Second change bowler Sarah Fergey was also in the same league for the economy stakes, with only seven runs conceded, also from two overs. Meanwhile, Catherine Hodge picked up the wicket of Rhiannan Jefferies for one run from her fifth delivery and went on to finish her two-over spell with 1-5. Lynne Bonner also contributed to the Belhus scoresheet with five runs until she became the second run out victim of the innings.
Thurrock were dealt a blow when their opening batsman Hodge was run out at the bowler’s end by some intelligent fielding by Sloan for just one run off in the first over, but then Fergey and Allison Edmeades joined forces. Fergey was the more prominent batsman, scoring a fine undefeated 27 while Edmeades ended with seven not out. Both contributed three runs each from the first and second balls of the final over, as they successfully concluded a thrilling contest between two evenly matched teams, with Fergey hitting two boundaries. The most accurate bowler was Jackie Norris whose spell cost only 16 runs from 2.2 overs.
In the second and final match of the evening, Rayleigh maintained their 100% record with a five wicket win over Stanford le Hope. The local team batted first and posted 63 for the loss of five wickets with McCarthy top scoring with 20 runs. Adding value were Laura Knight, Hales and Watson with 5, 6 and 7 runs respectively.
But the Hope were pegged back by outstanding performances from Rayleigh’s Elisha Brett and Louise Frost. Brett’s bowling was awesome as the medium pacer struck four times within her three-over spell and conceded just 14 runs into the bargain. Then Brett achieved a run out to dismiss Stanford’s batsman Olivier Wyatt and also accepted a return catch off her own bowling as one of her four scalps. Meanwhile, Frost also had a hand in cooling the Stanford run accumulation by pouching three catches.
Barnard led the way in Rayleigh’s response until she was bowled by McCarthy for 22. But Brett and Lees saw the Rawreth Lane club home without any further debits by undefeated scores of 16 and 9 respectively. McCarthy finished a one over bowling spell with 1-9. Umpires for both matches were Jim Medlycott and Terry Hills.
