Crowthorne & Crown Wood Women softball
The Crowthorne Women’s softball team played their second triple header on Sunday morning at a dew drenched Binfield CC.
Crows lost the toss in all three matches but were not fazed by the challenges set by their competitors and three spectacular games unfolded.
Bowling first against Binfield, wickets fell quickly thanks to Anita Applin, Helena Jones and first time wicket taker Sushma Lall.
With 306 runs to chase, top run scorer Nik Mansfield (16) closely followed by Leticia Blake (13) enabled Crows last pair to get within a competitive score leaving them to simply defend and take straightforward singles to pip the hosts and take the two run victory.
Game two and Warfield sent Crows out to bat which, through the glorious performance by Gill O’Loughlin and her 30 magnificent runs enabled the team to attain a total of 326.
With only four wides bowled by Crows’ 72 deliveries and with wickets from Nik Mansfield, two from Lou Roberts and a further two consecutive caught and bowled deliveries by skipper Gillian Finucane, the result was never in doubt and our women displayed a handsome 20 run victory up on the board.
The final game against West Ilsley and the women were now cautiously optimistic of a hat trick but maintained focus and took nothing for granted.
A 37 run victory ensued courtesy of Helen’s Jones and Gill O’Loughlin’s opening partnership of 29 runs and pitch perfect bowling deliveries from Lou Roberts, Anita Applin and Gill O’ Laughlin.
Umpires’ players of the tournament were awarded to Leticia Blake who took three superb catches, Sushma Lall for her first wicket in a competitive game and Gill O’Loughlin for her glorious batting performance.
Crowthorne & Crown Wood third XI
The Crows won the toss and elected to bat on a day that saw beautiful early weather and then a temperature drop and drizzle later in the day.
D McQuitty (37) and D Manning (35) put on a 99 run partnership to set up a solid platform.
N McDonagh (18) and A Taylor (10) helped to accelerate the innings with some nice strokes and fast runs, assisted by extras the Crows posted a competitive 167.
Woodcote set about the chase well, but the Crows took regular wickets to keep their noses ahead in the game. V Bhatti (1-22) kept it tight and took a nonchalant one handed caught and bowled.
D McQuitty (4-28) and M Miller (2-23) put the Crows in the box seat, but they still needed to close the game out.
Excellent death bowling by V Adapa (0-15) and 13 year old S Sathiyan (1-25) made the difference at the end. With Woodcote needing 13 from the last over to win, S Sathiyan kept his composure and bowled an excellent over that only conceded 5 runs, sparking jubilant scenes at the seven run victory.
