Kent Women Win Royal London One-Day Cup

In a dominant display in their Championship decider against Surrey, Kent regained their status as the top Women’s team in the UK, having seen off the challenge with a comprehensive seven wicket victory. The win confirmed the continuation of a remarkable record which has seen Kent win six and be runner up in four of the last 11 Championship competitions.

Having won the toss, at Reed’s School, Cobham, Surrey captain Cecily Scott decided to bat first but her line-up struggled immediately against the bowling prowess of the Kent attack. Five for the loss of one, quickly became for the loss of two as first Charlotte Pape had Hannah Jones out, without scoring, caught by Laura Marsh, and then she bowled danger batter Natalie Sciver. Surrey did then manage a mini resurgence with top scorer Kirstie White, 29, and Sophie Pout putting together a 50 run partnership before Pout was out for 23, lbw bowled Erin Bermingham, 55 – 3. Surrey again lost wickets in clusters with White out, without a change in the score, caught by Tammy Beaumont off the bowling of Marsh. Surrey failed to put together any further significant partnerships and in the end were all out for 110, with 11.3 of their allotted 50 overs unused.

The Kent bowlers exerted a strangle hold on the scoring rate, whilst also regularly taking wickets, stand outs were: Erin Bermingham, 8.3 overs, 3 maidens, 16 runs and 4 wickets, Megan Belt, 7 overs, 18 runs and 1 wicket, Laura Marsh, 10 overs, 3 maidens, 21 runs and 2 wickets and Charlotte Pape, 10 overs, 1 maiden, 2 wickets and 22 runs.

Kent openers, captain Charlotte Edwards and Tammy Beaumont, got off to a typically fast rate, Edwards going at a strike rate of 136. When the partnership was broken they had 76 runs on the board, Edwards scoring 56 off 41 balls, including 12 x 4’s, caught by Kirstie White off the bowling of Natalie Sciver. Beaumont and Lydia Greenway then combined for a 20 run second wicket partnership, ended when Beaumont was caught by Rachel Candy, again from the bowling of Sciver, for 29, off 40 balls. Greenway was out lbw to the bowling of Katherine Robson, just 4 runs short of the victory total, 16, so it was left to Grace Gibbs, 2 not out, and Erin Bermingham, 4 not out, to reach the target in 19.3 overs.

To view full scorecard, click here.

The win sealed victory in the Royal London One-Day Cup, which doubles as the Women’s Championship, Kent finishing with the maximum average points possible, 18, from their eight fixtures; won six, two cancelled. Ten points for each victory plus a full complement of eight bonus points in all completed matches. Surrey was second with 13.71 points from their eight matches, five wins, two losses and one cancelled fixture.

Head Coach Stuart Eddicott reflected that, ‘it has been an outstanding year for the squad with total team commitment and performance. We are developing depth and I see no reason why we can’t go on being a force in Women’s cricket in England.’

The Kent Women’s last fixtures of the 2014 season form part of the T20 finals Tournament, Sunday 3 August, at RAF Sports Ground, Uxbridge. They are the defending champions.

Kent Cricket Women's Team is proudly sponsored by Canterbury Christ Church University, to find out more about them pleaseclick here.

Photographs kindly supplied by Brian Tumbridge.