Western Storm vs South East Stars at Bristol (The Seat Unique Stadium) on 19 May 2024 at 14h30
Both teams got their 20-overs campaign off to a ‘flying start,’ playing and entertaining thriller, scoring direct-hit dismissals in a closely contested match that went down to the wire. Batting first, Stars suffered mid-order collapse when five wickets fell in just 25 balls. Batting lower-order, Aylish Cranstone mounted a recovery making a quick fire 31 runs from 20 balls toward Stars’ defendable score. Separately for Storm, Australian recruit Amanda-Jade Wellington took a 3-fer. Storm’s reply trailed by around ten runs throughout the match, but the home team remained in contention thanks to a fifty-one run partnership for Storm’s 2nd wicket (between Emma Corney and Niamh Holland.) Bowling the death-over, Tash Farrant was said to muster ‘all her England experience’ by limiting the last two match balls to ’singles.’ That secured Stars’ wafer-thin win. Commentators [Dr Hannah Thompson-Radford with Carol Camino (former Middx & Worcs women) and Annie Breakwell (former Staffs & W Mids women)] added that the scores were usually low, for what was believed to be a ‘high-scoring’ ground in fine condition. Weather: believed to be dry as elsewhere, with sunny spells and light breeze 16C.
*Stars’ innings *skipper Bryony Smith with Sophia Dunkley & Tash Farrant (England); Ryana MacDonald-Gay & Paige Scholfield (England ‘A’) with Phoebe Franklin, Danielle ‘Dani’ Gregory & Kalea Moore; *Debutante Tilly Corteen-Coleman (England u-19s); *Without Tazmin Brits (Rep. South Africa, injured) *Without Alice Capsey & Alice-Davidson-Richards (England IT20 call-up); Kira Chathli (injured) [*Natasha Wraith keeping wicket for Storm] *Commentators’s curse struck when during the 4th over, Bryony Smith was caught at ‘backward point’ by Sophia Smale from Ellie Anderson who’d ‘bowled an impressive 1st over’; *After 6 overs power-play, 44/1; *Attempting a ‘slog-sweep,’ Paige Scholfield was bowled by Amanda-Jade Wellington – a ‘key wicket’; *Attemping her third opportunistic ‘paddle-shot,’ Sophia Dunkley was bowled through-the-gate by Amanda-Jade Wellington; *Tash Farrant was ‘run-out’ by Amanda-Jade Wellington’s direct hit, collected from another fielder’s dropped-catch; *By mid-way, 68/4 *Phoebe Franklin, was caught by Ellie Anderson at comfortable height when jumping upwards, from Amanda-Jade Wellington; *3 balls later Chloe Hill was short of a second run and ‘run-out’ by Ellie Anderson – described as ‘awful’ (misfortune); *Kalea Moore was caught aerial at ‘deep mid-off’ by Amanda-Jade Wellington, from Sophia Smale; *Ryana Macdonald-Gay was caught aerial by at ‘deep square’ Ellie Anderson from Alex Griffiths; *Going for a second run and landing flat-out, Aylish Cranstone was ‘run-out’ by Alex Griffiths, from Ellie Anderson who’d switched to bowling around-the-wicket; *Stars’ batting: Aylish Cranstone 31(20), Sophia Dunkley 23(23), Bryony Smith 16(11), Phoebe Franklin 16(12), Paige Scholfield 12(10), Danielle ‘Dani’ Gregory 12(12); *Storm’s bowling: Amanda-Jade Wellington 3/22, Alex Griffiths 1/17, Ellie Anderson 1/19, Sophia Smale 1/26;
*Storm’s innings skipper Sophie Luff, with Mollie Robbins, Chloe Skelton, Sophia Smale, (England u-19s), Fran Wilson (ex England), & Amanda-Jade Wellington (Australia World Cup winner & Big bash); Ellie Anderson (Sparks loan – erroneously mentioned by non-UK sources as Australian); Without Heather Knight, Lauren Filer or Danni Gibson (IT20 England call-up) or Jess Hazell; [*Chloe Hill keeping wicket for Stars]; *Natasha Wraith was caught by Chloe Hill diving right ‘with a juggle’ from Phoebe Franklin; *After 6 overs power-play, 35/1 (vs 44/1); *By mid-way, 57/1 (vs 68/4); *Emma Corney was ‘run-out’ from ‘mid-off’ by Tash Farrant’s ‘unfortunate’ direct hit, from the bowling of Ryana Macdonald-Gay; *Described versatile and able to hit all-around-the-ground, Fran Wilson lobbed to ‘mid-off,’ caught by Tash Farrant, from Danielle Gregory; *Niamh Holland’s ‘slightly strange’ shot was caught low at ‘extra cover’ by Paige Scholfield from Ryana Macdonald-Gay *Tash Farrant came ‘around-the-wicket’ to bowl the final over; *Alex Griffiths was bowled with bails sent flying. *Next ball Sophie Luff was ‘run-out’ by Ryana Macdonald-Gay with Tash Farrant removing the bails at the bowler’s end; *Despite lauding Amanda-Jade Wellington for an ‘entertaining’ finish, Tash Farrant’s last two balls went for uneventful ‘singles’ whereas ‘fours’ were needed; *Storm’s batting: Emma Corney 40(37), Niamh Holland 32(36), Alex Griffiths 19(16), Sophie Luff 14(10), Fran Wilson 10(9); *Stars’ bowling: Danielle ‘Dani’ Gregory 1/18, Tash Farrant 1/23, Ryana Macdonald-Gay 1/23, Phoebe Franklin 1/27;
*Match result: South East Stars 132/9 (6.6 runs-per-over, from 20/20overs) 4 points; beat Western Storm 128/6 (@6.3 rpo, target 133 from 20/20 overs) by 4 runs
*Scorecard courtesy of ECB @URL https://www.ecb.co.uk/charlotte-edwards-cup/match-centre/104375#scorecard AppleMac users may need to scroll down on left margin
*Key match moments highlights courtesy of NV Play @URL https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/#v63202734-53ce-499c-bb75-cee12ebdf8d8
*Match free-to-air courtesy of Western Storm (via NV Play) on YouTube<03h06m55s> @URL https://www.facebook.com/WesternStormOfficial/videos/979281779965488/
