Jeer stars with bat & ball as Kent Women start with a win
15-year-old Genevieve Jeer top-scored with the bat and then went on to take her first senior five-wicket haul, including a hat-trick, as Kent Women defeated Middlesex Women in their first Women’s County 50-Over match of the season at Polo Farm, Canterbury.
View scorecard
An unmissable evening of cricket is coming to Canterbury in the Summer of 2024, and tickets are now on sale to see England’s heroes take on the White Ferns of New Zealand in Canterbury, just an hour’s journey from the capital.
Tickets for England Women vs. New Zealand are now on sale – be there to witness England in T20 action:
Buy tickets now
England Women vs. New Zealand at The Spitfire Ground in July is not included in 2024 Memberships or Six Pack ticket bundles. Members, Six Pack & Six Pack Plus holders should purchase tickets from the Club website.
Led for the first time as permanent Women’s skipper by Megan Belt, the vast majority of Kent Women’s squad of 12 for the match in eastern Canterbury had experience in regional setups, with Hundred players & multiple Women’s County Championship winners featuring too.
The Horses were able to call upon South East Stars & Trent Rockets’ Alexa Stonehouse with her left-arm seam, mixed with the likes of new Southern Brave signing & 2023 Kent Women Player of the Year, Tilly Corteen-Coleman, and eight other players with experience of being in a regional women’s cricket setup.
In freezing temperatures at Polo Farm, Belt won the Toss and elected to bat first, with Southern Vipers ‘keeper-batter Megan Sturge and former Sussex Women batter Sam Wright tasked with opening the innings.
The duo put on 60 together in the first 12.5 overs under difficult conditions, before Wright was bowled by Gayatri Gole – the first of a six-wicket haul for the right-arm seamer.
Gole struck again in each of her next three overs, removing Sturge for 25, before dismissing multiple Women’s County Championship winner Charlotte Pape for just 2 and Isla McCulloch for the same score, leaving the Horses on 76/4 after 19 overs.
Middlesex’s strike bowler completed her wicket-taking street with a wicket maiden in the 23rd over, sending Coco Streets back to the pavilion for 1.
Genevieve Jeer then joined Stonehouse in the middle, with Kent moving on to 102/5 at the halfway point of their innings.
Stonehouse fell for 13 in the 27th over, Gole completing her six-fer in her final alloted over, damaging Kent’s hopes of a big score with figues of 6 for 10.
It fell to Jeer & the rest of the Horses’ tail to get runs on the board, and the right-hander put on two good partnerships with the lower order – 35 with Olivia Barnes & 27 with Jodie Hobson – but couldn’t up the scoring rate sufficiently to take Kent up to the 200-mark. Hers was the last Kent wicket to fall at the end of the 48th over, bowled by Layla Judge for a top score of 46, and Kent Women were all out for 198.
Kent’s reply with the ball got off to an extremely strong start. Stonehouse bowled Georgia Irving for no score with the third ball of Middlesex’s reply, before striking again in the fifth over, to dismiss Routledge for 9.
Middlesex recovered from 12/2 to 99/3 thanks to an 87-run partnership between Natasha Miles & Riva Pindoria, by far the most valuable partnership from either side. Corteen-Coleman made the breakthrough, pinning Miles lbw for 37.
Stonehouse responded with a breakthrough of her own – a wicket maiden in the 29th over to see the end of Pindoria’s innings for 47 caught by Pape, before wickets began to fall more regularly – Sturge ran out Mariko Hill for 8, before Jeer took two wickets in two balls with her first over of right-arm seam, seeing off Gole & Anisha Dissanayake, bowling both.
Jeer completed her hat-trick with the first ball of her next over, trapping Artemis Downer leg-before for 12, and Middlesex were in trouble at 130/8.
She then bowled Sonali Patel for 2 and Lauren Turner for no score – completing her five-fer and sealing the win for the Horses by 60 runs.
Kent took five points in their first match of the ECB’s Women’s County 50-Over tournament in Group 4, Middlesex 1.
View scorecard
The Horses’ next match is a 50-Over match away in Sussex on Monday 6 May.
Tickets for your Summer social in Canterbury to see the Kent Spitfires in T20 competition are on general sale now:
Buy your T20 tickets here
Lock in your place at The Spitfire Ground this Summer. Several matches completely sold out in 2023. Take advantage of Early Bird prices before the end of 1 May and save money by buying today.