The emphasis in this division is firmly on the development of the younger generation.
Gloucester opted to field first, as is par for the course, but openers Katie Dolman and Charlie Phillips went for 37 off their first pair of overs. Amy Gordon and Grace Poole made hay. Dolman looped two outswingers past the outside edge, then Gordon helped herself to four fours in four.
Liv Daniels, the 19-year-old captain, used Emily Geach and herself next. Geach proved the most economical thus far, going for 9 off her first over; Daniels less so, offering Gordon a two, followed by three fours with her off-spin. Gordon, described by ESPN as a “useful lower-order batter” (but mainly a bowler), may now call herself a genuine top-order hitter.
Geach got her reward, having Poole well stumped by the 16-year-old Meg Ahearne for 20/13, but the openers had amassed 62 in six-and-a-half overs.
Gordon went to her 50 at the end of the eighth over, after facing only 27 deliveries (nine 4s, and one immense 6).
The return of Geach and Phillips for a second spell reduced the scoring rate to below 10 per over, and the introduction of Melissa Story, the one nationally familiar name on the scorecard, had an immediate effect. After Tilly Callaghan had put her away for a couple to twos, she had her caught by the captain for 14.
Elsa Barnfather brought the 100 up in the twelfth over, but Gordon was run out by Phillips (55/32), as her partner drove straight back down the pitch.
Into the second half of the innings, and a tighter Gloucester performance slowed proceedings briefly. Daniels held Story back for the closing overs (2-0-9-1 till now); she took a chance by re- introducing Dolman for the 17th over, but it worked – to the extent that Izzy Patel ran out Coco Streets. Kentish inexperience showed as Isobel Kirby was run out soon after by Prarthana Reddy.
The total rushed past 150 in the 18th, as Barnfather dominated. Story was brought on for the 19th, but it meant she wouldn’t have her full complement of four overs. Emily Thompson did the job of every good late-order keeper, by scoring off nearly every ball she received.
Barnfather finished on 42*, as Kent compiled a decent-looking 182-5. Since three of those wickets had been run-outs, the bowlers were restricted to two. 50 runs off the last four!
The Reply
Glaws started just as vigorously as Kent had done. Bea Willis and Georgie Cant had 34 on the board in the first four. The introduction of Zeena Bilal to the attack put a sharp brake on progress. She bowled Cant for a rapid 17/11, while conceding only one run. Izzy James, a leg-spinner, continued the good work by running out Patel – a second deflection by a bowler – so that two overs had cost a mere three runs, for the gain of two wickets.
Megan Belt, the highly experienced Kent skipper, was happy to give Bilal a third over straight off, knowing that runs saved early on would be hard to make up later.
Wills and Geach brought the 50 up in the ninth over, but the run-rate was lagging well behind. Giving James a third over too proved beneficial; she trapped Geach in front (18/14).
Now at last the two major figures in the game were performing at the same time, Belt bowling to Story. Could Story provide the big innings the host needed? No! As Grace Poole came on to bowl, she was run out – by a direct throw from Belt!
James was the first to complete her four-over stint, going for 19 runs. That helped keep the Glos’ run-rate well in check; they needed to hit Kent’s bowlers at an average of over 9 per over. Willis was doing a doughty job at the top of the innings, but she found it hard providing the fireworks needed.
Poole had a nasty experience as she tried to complete her third over. She lost her radar, bowling five wides, four to off, one to leg and added a no-ball. Another delivery, a possible catch to Streets, hit her mid-stomach, and she needed attention. Poole came off a short run, but the ball lobbed high for another no-ball, hit for four. A 13-ball over; the yips.
Willis reached a well deserved 50 in the 19th; her innings had held the Glos’ reply together. It was hardly her fault that she couldn’t see her team over the line. Belt gave Bilal that over, and she gained a second reward, Thompson stumping Belcher for 9.
Willis finished on a thoroughly meritorious 56* off 59 balls with five 4s, but the game was beyond recall.
Scores:
Kent 182-5 Gloucester 147-6 Kent won by 35 runs
Teams:
Gloucestershire
Meg Ahearne (w-k), Bea Willis, Izzy Patel, Emily Geach, Melissa Story, Katie Dolman, Georgie Cant, Liv Daniels (captain), Caitlin Belcher, Charlotte Phillips
Kent
Amy Gordon, *Emily Thompson (w-k), Grace Poole, Tilly Callaghan, Elsa Barnfather, Coco Streets Isobel Kirby, Megan Belt (captain), Alice Grant, Izzy James, Zeena Bilal
*debut
Afterthoughts
So Kent, having ‘sold off’ Tilly Corteen-Coleman, Alice Davidson-Richards, Tash Farrant, Phoebe Franklin, Kalea Moore, Ryana Macdonald-Gay, Jemima Spence and Alexa Stonehouse to Surrey, and Tammy Beaumont to The Blaze in Division One, can still put together a side capable of winning games in the lower division that the ECB determined was all they were worth.
And Surrey beat Essex the same afternoon, with help from their signings Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Grace Harris, plus only five of the Kentish tribe. Alice Capsey had the misfortune to fall first ball, briliiantly caught and bowled at grass-top level by Esmee MacGregor.
