Honours end even versus Northants

July 17, 2025

HONOURS ended even between Suffolk and Northamptonshire with one win apiece in their ECB Girls’ U18 County T20 Group 6 fixtures.

Suffolk won the first match by seven runs before losing the second by 44 runs.

Northamptonshire won the toss and elected to field in the first match at Ipswich School on Wednesday.

Charlotte Anderson and Henrietta Croot opened the batting for Suffolk, putting on 38 runs before Anderson fell for 23 in the fifth over.

Adithi Thayur joined Croot and added 21 runs before Thayur was bowled for seven. Croot was eventually run out for 26 and Suffolk finished their 20 overs with 96 for 9 on the board.

Chasing 97 to win, Northamptonshire began their innings in confident mood. Izzy Gebhard and Callie Bradbury opened the bowling for Suffolk, each taking a wicket in their first overs to leave Northants 7 for 2 off two overs.

Gebhard struck again in her second over to reduce Northants to 13 for 3. Captain Bradbury then brought on Erin Berry, who responded by taking a wicket in both her second and third overs.

The Suffolk fielding, which had been exceptional up to this point, saw the standards raised even further by two game-changing run outs, the first by Croot to dismiss the dangerous Smart and the second by Bradbury to dismiss Chambers. These two fine pieces of fielding left Northants in real trouble at 48 for 7.

Berry then took her third wicket with a fabulous caught & bowled. Northants then started to fight back, getting to 69 runs before Bradbury took her second wicket, leaving Northants on 69 for 9 chasing the 97-run target.

The fight back continued from Northants and, with two overs to go, they needed only 10 runs to win, with Suffolk needing that final wicket.

One final bowling change from Bradbury resulted in Isla Staines taking her first U18 wicket to leave Northants all out for 89 off 18.4 overs as Suffolk won by 7 runs.

Suffolk won the toss and this time they too elected to field in the day’s second game.

A shuffling of the Northants batting order and a much more aggressive intent from ball one saw Northants deliver a much-improved batting performance in game two. Openers Smart and Wakeford hit 16 and 19 respectively with strike rates over 140.

Gebhard removed Wakeford in the third over; Staines took her second wicket of the day in the fifth over. Imogen Grove then took her first wicket of the day to remove Smart for 16 and with Staines striking once again, Northants were, once again, in trouble at 44 for 4.

The game, however, turned in Northants’ favour with an outstanding innings of 66 not out from Gibbs ably supported by Fidler, who contributed 19 before Grove trapped her lbw as Northants posted an impressive total of 161 for 5.

Chasing this big target Suffolk managed 117 for 4 in their 20 overs. Bradbury top-scored with 30 not out, Lexi Wade made 26, Anderson 22 and Croot 17.

All batted well, but Northants’ fielding deserves real credit as it was much improved in game two, keeping real pressure on the Suffolk batters throughout the innings and the visitors successfully defended their total.

 

Tags: , ,

Categorised in: