Two RCC women in LDCC team
Lucy Strettle and Sarah Curlett selected for Merseyside to face Lancashire
Two Rainhill players were included in the LDCC (Merseyside) team that took on two Lancashire representative sides at Newton-le-Willows yesterday.
Lucy Strettle and Sarah Curlett (pictured) played in two T20 matches in the Women's Inter League - the first against a Lancashire Cricket Foundation (LCF) XI from the north of the county, and the second against an LCF team from the east and south of Lancashire.
In the first match, the Lancashire team batted first and, in spite of several wickets falling, an inspired knock of 56 from the impressive Hannah Knowles helped them to a total of 101 for 7. Sarah and Lucy both bowled well (0-16 and 0-15 respectively) without taking the the wicket their efforts merited. In response, LDCC initially struggled but Eleanor Sinker (22) and Amanda Terry (20) brought the Merseyside team back into contention and an electric final three overs brought the game to an exciting finale. With LDCC requiring six runs from the final two balls, Amanda looked for the boundary but had to be content to run two instead. Four were now needed from the final ball - Amanda attempted to hit it out of the ground but instead playered around the ball and was bowled. The Lancashire team had won by 3 runs.
The second match saw the Merseysiders batting first. It was a more confident batting performance, with Amanda Terry again demonstrating her abilities with an innings of 28. Lucy, not having batted in the first game, was promoted in the batting order and came to the crease in the penultimate over, helping her team to a total of 119.
Lancashire competed well but were ultimately unable to chase down the target of 120, finishing their 20 overs with 109 on the board. Lucy and Sarah bowled again, with Lucy taking a wicket and sending down some fantastic deliveries in a spell that brought figures of 1-20. Sarah also bowled (0-12) but was not rewarded with a wicket.
The standard of cricket was generally very good and both matches showed the quality that exists in the women's game locally. From a Rainhill perspective, it is always great to see our players being selected for representative and county sides and the achievement should be acknowledged. Lucy and Sarah have made significant progress in the last couple of years and to see them playing at regional level is testament to their personal resolve and determination.
Photographs from yesterday's games can be found here. Naturally, I make no apology for focusing mainly on Lucy and Sarah!