The sun brought out the best of Shepherds Bush Cricket Club's women as the 1st Xl achieved their third league win of the season – a one-wicket victory – against Stoke Newington 2nd Xl.
In what was the fifth league match on their Bromyard Avenue home turf, Bush won the toss and chose to field.
With a mix of excellent stops, ridiculous catches and beautiful bowling, the visitors were held to a score of 100 for 6 after 20 overs. Lucie Prior dominated on the field with two athletic catches to post figures of 2 for 8 runs off three overs, earning her the Player of the Match title.
Put in to chase the total down, junior squad members Serena Berry and Poppy Gregory opened the batting, scoring 15 and 3 respectively.
But pick of the batters was Marilyn Smith, who finished on 26 not out (including four boundaries) as she and Reem Selim rotated the strike to give the spectators an exciting finish. In the final over the home side reached 101 to nab 20 points and victory.
The day was full of debuts and match firsts, which led to happy scenes in the pavilion.
T20 defeat for the men's side
However, the men's 1st Xl were beaten in the area final of the Vitality Club T20 Cup, losing by seven runs to Hayes CC of Kent in a match at the Wimbledon Club.
Bush fielded first, but struggled to contain a confident Hayes to 199 for 2, with Finnan Bryan scoring 90 not out (including five sixes and nine fours) and Gareth Severin hitting 63 before being caught by Harvey Jupp of Ikjot Thind's bowling.
The only other Hayes wicket to fall was when Mitch Crayn caught captain Alex Blake for 5.
Bush openers Idris Otto-Mian and Thind only managed 10 between them, but Crayn steadied the ship with 18 before keeper and captain Fin Trenouth struck 50 (with three sixes and five fours) and Marcus Howard hit 59 (including a brace of sixes and six fours) to haul Bush back into contention.
But despite an impressive 24 for Joe Carrasco and 16 not out for Jupp, it wasn't enough. William MacVicar was the pick of the Hayes bowlers, finishing with four wickets for 31.
This weekend sees Bush men's 1st Xl travel to play North Middlesex in Crouch End at 11am on Saturday.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
