Northamptonshire Steelbacks Women booked their spot in the next round of the T20 Women’s County Cup with a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Bedfordshire & Huntingdonshire Women.
The Steelbacks restricted the visitors 56/8 from their 20 overs and in reply, the hosts chased in down with 11 overs to spare.
Beds & Hunts won the toss and decided to bat first and Desborough Town CC but from the off they struggled to score. Three wickets fell in the powerplay and only 19 runs were scored. Ella Phillips took the first wicket in the second over as Fox found a top edge that looped into the hands of Emma Gibbs behind the stumps.
Phillips then struck in her next over when the opener Taylor plinked one straight to Chloe Hill at mid off. Amelia Kemp then joined in on the act the next over as she removed Reeder for three. Another wicket fell before the halfway point of the innings as Anisha Patel claimed a simple catch off her own bowling to leave the visitors 32/4.
The next wicket fell in similar fashion as Lenny Sims caught Banks off her own delivery and then Sims collected another wicket in the 14th over as a nicely flighted delivery beat the advancing Mistry to bowl the batter.
The Steelbacks were also relentless in the field and two more wickets fell due to sharp fielding from Beth Ascott and Gemma Marriott. Direct hits from the pair run out Sainsbury and Anslow respectively. The bowling side only allowed Beds & Hunts Women only scored 13 runs off the final four overs and they finished 56/8 after 20 overs.
Sims returned figures of 2/6 from four overs, while Ella Phillips finished on 2/10 from her allocation.
In reply, the Steelbacks got off to a far from ideal start as Ava Clive was caught in the first over by a delivery which bounced sharply. However, Gemma Marriott’s five boundaries, saw the Steelbacks home with plenty of time to spare. Captain Marriott finished unbeaten on 28, while Amelia Kemp hit 14 and May Drinkell finished six not out.
The Steelbacks will now wait to see who they draw in the next round of the competition.
Their next T20 fixture is at New Road, as they face Worcestershire as part of a T20 Double Header with the men’s side on Sunday 24th May.