GLOUCESTERSHIRE Girls U13s enjoyed a tremendously successful series of matches at a residential festival at King’s College, Taunton, with both the Performance and Development squads excelling.
The Performance squad kicked off with an eight-run defeat in a 35-over contest against Hampshire despite half centuries from Suri Shah and Sophie Murray.
Suri Shah
Sophie Murray
But the girls bounced back in style with two T20 wins the next day, beating both Somerset and Oxfordshire by 48 runs.
The Development squad, meanwhile, won all three of their outings, starting with an 11-run triumph in a 35-over clash with Cornwall – Josie Drury top scoring on 39 and Lilly Sheppard taking 3-15 – before trumping Cambridgeshire and Wales.
Millie Downey, incidentally, went into the festival fresh from scoring an unbeaten 107 in a warmup match against Cornwall at Taunton St Andrews!
Head Coach Ryan Walker said: “It was an absolute pleasure to see how all of the girls conducted themselves both on and off the cricket pitch. They did themselves and everyone at Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation proud.
“The girls had a tremendous amount of fun, socialising with players from other counties as well as their own cohort.
“In between the socialising, the cricket was of a very high standard. One of the key takeaways was to see how supportive the girls are of each other and just how much they took joy from and celebrated the success of individual and team performances. They really do a great job of embracing and encouraging a team environment.
“A final word must go to the festival organisers, who put on a wonderful event. We look forward to doing it all again in 2023″
Gloucestershire Girls U15s, meanwhile, made it five wins from five outings in their ECB Group, trumping Cornwall by 204 runs at Chipping Sodbury.
Opener Sophie Smith-Graham (71) and Bethan Manning (4-3 from two overs) were the stand out performers for a side that is next in action on Monday away to Wales.
Gloucestershire Girls U18s made a perfect start to their ECB T20 campaign with comfortable wins in their first two games.
Olivia Brock (34) and Rachel Le Poidevin (4-4 from four) shone in a 91-run defeat of Cornwall while Katie Jones (53) and Isobel Patel (45) took centre stage with an 80-run partnership in the eight-wicket win over Devon, both at Abbotskerswell CC.