Derbyshire Senior Women County Squad

                                                                   Coach – Greig Wright 07791 484886 -

                                                              greig.wright@derbyshireccc.com

Thursday 28th July 2011

Women back to winning ways

Derbyshire hosted today’s match versus Hertfordshire at Repton school, this was  a first for Derbyshire women’s cricket as only Derbyshire mini academy and boys teams had played here before. There was a minutes silence at the start of the game for the sad loss of Joe Kellogg who was the older brother of Lia Kellogg who was representing Derbyshire in today’s game, Derbyshire also wore black arm bands in respect.

Hertfordshire won the toss and chose to bat first; they had a shaking start with the two opening bowlers Lia Kellogg and Rachel Hopkins holding them to 11 off the first nine over’s with their openers looking very unsteady being beaten by the ball on more than several occasions, the first wicket fell by the pace of Hopkins ripping the middle stump from the ground and sending their first batter back to the pavilion, it was then a very good partnership of 55 before the next wicket fell this was taken by Hannah Glenn who had joined the bowling attack, a very neat catch my Nina Smedley at slip. The third wicket then was another struggle as they added more runs making the total 146 for 3 wickets another wicket for Hopkins and a splendid one handed catch by the captain Sarah Sunderaram who had then set the standard with the fielding. Another wicket fell shortly after for just 21 runs with one of Derbyshire’s young guns Katy Davies who would later prove herself with the bat making the Hertfordshire number 4 chip a catch up which was taken very well by Sally Green at Square Leg. Hannah Glenn was still bowling extremely well and with a dropped catch in her over before this seemed to make her more determined to get another wicket to her name and did so by LBW making the score now 170 – 5, Glenn then took another wicket the ball after with Amy Lacey taking a simple catch. Hopkins was brought back into the attack to try and get a few more wickets and proved successful by bowling Hertfordshire’s number 6 batter out for just 5 with Herts 177 – 7 this wasn’t looking a bad score on one of the larger ground’s in which both counties would play on during the season they did try and push on towards the end but lost successive wickets one being a run out from Laura Grabowski and then an LBW for Lia Kellogg who was brought back into the bowling attack for the last few overs with a well deserved wicket, Herts finished on 188 for 9 which was a good total and Derbyshire would have to work hard to contend building some good partnerships.

Tea was over and with the batters, bowlers, fielders and umpires ready the game got underway once again, Another young player Nina Smedley opened the batting with an explosive Lucy Antcliffe, they had a great start with Antcliffe hitting out from ball one they had a good opening partnership of 31 with the first wicket falling for young Smedley who battered very well around Antcliffe, next came in debutant Laura Grabowski to try and make an impression but with some good bowling Grabowski made just one, Sally Green was moved up the order from latter weeks to try and settle the wickets down as Derbyshire were now 33 -2, Green played well and nudged the ball around to give Antcliffe the strike as she was still striking the ball exceptionally well, Green fell to the bowling of Nikki Little after 14 balls at the crease. Derbyshire needed a partnership to have any chance of reaching the score and along came Hopkins she and Antcliffe made 46 between them before the big hitting came to a close with Antcliffe making an excellent 55 off 67 balls including seven 4’s. With Hopkins playing the ball around well and Derbyshire with a total of 98 – 4 things were looking up, Sunderam had just stepped to the crease and with a captains head on it was the perfect time, the next fall of wicket came at 127 with Hopkins getting trapped in front of her stumps and was given LBW for a score of 37 which also included five 4’s. Lia Kellogg was now in at number 7 and with only one wicket under her belt she was looking to make an impression with the bat, needing to keep a cool head and not make any rash shots she stuck with captain and they were looking like building up a good partnership but Sunderam was then caught out with some good bowling from the Herts spinner making Derbyshire 159 – 6 with Kellogg and Glenn at the crease more pressure was added as wickets were falling, but with Glenn going for just 2 runs Kellogg needed someone to stay in, playing a couple of good four to relieve a bit of pressure she then had Amy Lacey at the crease with the nerves looking to get to Lacey and wanting quick runs a mix up in the middle meant that Lacey was ran out for just 1, with Derbyshire 166-8 still needing 23 runs seemed as though Herts were going to run away with it but Katy Davies showed her cool and Kellogg batting very sensibly they made it so they needed 12 off 2 over’s and after a few dots Herts were on top Davies then getting hit in the chest was a blow as she seemed in pain but carried on and hit a superb four meaning they only needed 3 off the last over which they did with 3 balls to spare. Kellogg looked very much spurred on in her performance with the bat and looked as though she battered well to make her brother proud.

Derbyshire win by 1 run.

By Lia Kellogg, Derbyshire Senior Women

Tuesday 31st May 2011

Derbyshire Women start the season positively

Sunday 29th May saw the Senior Women's side start their 2011 campaign with an away fixture to Huntingdon and Cambridgeshire at Chatteris CC. With conditions favouring bowlers it was no surprise when Derbyshire lost the toss they were put into bat. On a low bouncing wicket with a strong wind it was never going to be a day where a large score was possible so it was key to bat a many overs as possible.

When Lucy Antcliffe fell in the 2nd over, followed by Hayley Glenn in the 4th, it left 14 year old Nina Smedley and Rachel Hopkins at the crease. The 2 combined to put on 81 runs in 20 overs before Nina fell for a stylish 34. This then bought Laura Smith to the crease who again stuck in for a valuable 28 partnership before Rachel was adjudged LBW for 58. Laura soon followed for 20 and wickets then followed regularly with Derbyshire finishing 158 all out in the 46th Over.

With such a low total it was key to bowl and field well from the start. Lia Kellogg opened the bowling with the wind behind her and bowled with real pace with Hannah Glenn bowling off spin into the wind. The first wicket came in the third over with the score on 3 and the next came along in the 7th with the score on 7, both falling to pace. There was a mini fightback from the batter with Malvern coming in and playing some lusty cross bat shots before becoming Lia's third victim with the score on 48.

All the bowlers then dug in and bowled tightly (particularly Amy Lacey who bowled 5 overs into the wind taking 1 for 8 picking up wickets at regular intervals before Sally Green came on at the end taking 4 for 5 in 11 balls to complete the innings. Hunts and Cambs were dismissed for 101 in the 35th over.

It was a positive start for the Women in a season where the realistic goal is promotion.

This Sunday sees Derbyshire Women playing for the first time in 10 years at The County Ground against relegated Hampshire in what promises to be a competitive game. Start time is 11:00 with free entry and all are welcome.