HUNTLEY and Golden Hill went home with silverware after the Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation staged a hugely successful inaugural Women’s 100 Ball Soft Ball and Hard Ball finals day at Stroud.
A hectic day began with Hatherley & Reddings defeating Frenchay and Huntley overcoming Hawkesbury Upton in the semi-finals of the soft ball event. And that set up a play-off which saw Huntley emerge three-wicket victors in a well contested match with the batting and bowling awards going to Annette Raymond and Trudie Bartlett, respectively, of Hatherley.
The hard ball competition, meanwhile, saw Bradley Stoke trump the Cotswold Hub and Golden Hill emerge victorious against Huntley.
100 Ball Hard Ball champions Golden Hill
And in the final, Golden Hill chased down a target of 74 to win by eight wickets with 28 balls to spare, Alys Davis receiving the bowling award after sending down eight ‘dots’ from her 10 balls as well as the batting trophy for finishing unbeaten on 43 from 33.
Alys Davis with her batting and bowling awards
Laura Charles-Price, the GCF’s Women’s and Girls Development Officer, said: “It’s been a fantastic day and a real celebration of women’s and girls cricket across the entire county.
“The response from clubs to these new competitions was really strong, and we’re very hopeful that more teams will enter next year and that both will continue to grow.
“We have received great support and would like to thank everyone for taking part as well as our umpires, scorers and Stroud Cricket Club who made us all so welcome.”