Resounding win for Suffolk Women

July 27, 2026

A MEMORABLE bowling performance set Suffolk up for a resounding 50-over victory over Cumbria in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup at Mildenhall CC on Sunday, writes Jack Oastler.

Amber Bradnam (3 for 21) and Immy Sidhu (3 for 23) led the way before Sidhu then put on an unbroken stand of 83 with Charlotte Anderson (48 not out) to complete a nine-wicket win.

Suffolk have been on an impressive run. Six straight T20 wins, plus a dramatic tie in Cornwall, meant a second-place finish in the Blast. Among those was a friendly win against Cambridgeshire, at Essex’s county ground in Chelmsford.

That form flowed into the first Metro Bank One-Day Cup game, where they easily defended a huge 289, making a mammoth trek to Northumberland worthwhile.

It was Cumbria who had the long drive this time, and Suffolk made sure they could head home early by winning the match in just 54.2 overs, despite losing the toss.

Grace Poole, who shared the new-ball with Evie Booker, was the latest player to make her Suffolk debut this season.

A long-time nemesis from her days at Essex, Poole has been playing for Woolpit over the last two seasons, as well as featuring for Kent in Tier 2.

It didn’t take her long to get into the action, taking her first wicket with her second delivery.

Cumbria managed to score just three runs off the bat in the first five overs. By the end of the powerplay, Suffolk’s dominance was even more exaggerated: just seven runs conceded, with Poole claiming her second wicket of the day thanks to a catch from captain Amelie Clarke.

Booker’s eleventh over brought a third wicket, thanks to Maddy Reynolds’ throw to keeper Charlotte Anderson, ending Maeve Jones’ 30-ball resistance.

Grace Airey walked out at five and managed to finally get things moving for the visitors, seeing Booker off with a boundary before greeting Sidhu and Bradnam the same way.

If things were looking up for Cumbria, that didn’t last long. Sidhu (pictured above) began her third over with two wickets in two balls – Jenny Fallows was bowled, then Alice Heaton trapped lbw – making it 29 for 5.

Bradnam got in on the fun, bowling Cumbria’s No.7, before beating Airey’s bat two overs later. It was a routine stumping for Anderson, who was keeping for the senior Suffolk side for the first time.

There won’t have been many times Sophie Hughes and Maddy Reynolds have come on to bowl at their home ground with the other team seven wickets down.

It speaks to Suffolk’s depth that Mildenhall’s usual openers were being tasked with polishing things off. Leg spinner Hughes took the eighth wicket, but Cumbrian captain Megan Smith (23) provided some stern resistance; it took the return of Bradnam to take the ninth.

No.10 Lauren Burrow launched an impressive counter-attack, top-scoring with 25 from 28 to drag her side up to a defendable 109 all out.

She eventually became Sidhu’s third victim, thanks to another Clarke catch, but not before putting a dent in a few bowlers’ figures.

After two calm overs to start the chase, Clarke slammed back-to-back sixes off Burrow – outscoring Cumbria’s powerplay total in two swings. The bowler struck back immediately, though, bowling her with the next ball.

Anderson took up her captain’s mantle with back-to-back fours in a fourth over which cost 16. She found the boundary twice again in the eighth over to tick past the half-way mark.

Sidhu, in at No.3, added four boundaries of her own; the result was quickly becoming a formality.

Another four from Anderson brought up Suffolk’s 100, before the opener’s final boundary took her side to a comprehensive victory, and the top of the table.

Coach Johan de Silva’s side head to Peterborough to face Cricket East on Sunday, to hopefully continue their impressive run.

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