Super West return from Perth victorious
Sunday saw the McCrea FS West of Scotland Women's XI travel to Perth Doo'cot Cricket Club for the Beyond Boundaries Women's Scottish T20 Cup Finals Day.
Despite the previous day's rain, West’s semi-final against Grange started on time, with Grange winning the toss and electing to bat first. Sheikh opened the bowling and gave West the best possible start, swinging the first ball between bat and pad to bowl Nichols on the first ball! Things got even better with Boulton hitting her second ball to Watson, who took a good catch to leave Grange at 0/2 at the end of the first over. Norris bowled from the other end and continued West’s incredible start by bowling Scotland international Jack in her first over. Things continued to go from bad to worse for Grange, with Sheikh and Norris taking 4 and 3 wickets respectively, leaving Grange at 11/7. Edwards was the only batter to show some resistance, finishing 14 not out from 19 balls. However, Grange could only reach 28 before being bowled out, with Stanton taking the final 3 wickets. In reply, Faisal and the star with the ball, Sheikh, ensured the chase was never in question and knocked the runs off without loss in the 5th over. With that, West secured a place in the afternoon final against Watsonians.
In the final, Tolliday lost the toss again, but she had no complaints as Watsonians elected to bat first, allowing Sheikh and Norris to try to repeat their heroics from the morning’s match. It was Norris who struck first this time, taking the wicket of Skipper Tucker in her first over. Sheikh did not have to wait long to be on the scorecard though, as she bowled the new batter Muir, who had scored 40 not out in the morning. A runout followed with an excellent piece of fielding from Kumar before Sheikh took three more wickets to take her tally for the day to 8! Panton and Hatch put on some resistance in a 30-run partnership before the former was dismissed by Mughis with the score at 53/7. Wickets from Stanton and Mughis ensured there wasn’t a late-order partnership as Watsonians were dismissed for 65. Another excellent bowling performance saw targeting the stumps being rewarded throughout the day.
So West had a target of 66 to win the trophy, and it was the successful partnership from the morning of Faisal and Sheikh to start things off. It was a steady start with both batters rotating the strike; the first boundary did not come until the 3rd over. Faisal played the aggressor from there on, often splitting the fielders and running hard to push West towards the target. Watsonians rotated their bowlers with no luck, and it was in the 10th over that the scores were levelled. At the beginning of the 11th, Sheikh hit it deep into the outfield, and West took the win by 10 wickets. Faisal finished with 48 from just 36 balls, and Sheikh was 11 not out. Tolliday and her team ran onto the pitch to celebrate as West won the Beyond Boundaries Women's Scottish T20 Cup!
What an incredible performance from an incredible team. The club is very proud of the team’s performances this season and this was the perfect way to end it! You can read Cricket Scotland's match report here.
What a super Sunday that was! If you have time, I highly recommend watching the full matches. A huge thank you to Cricket Scotland for the coverage of finals day, especially to Jake Perry and Leigh Kasparek for the commentary.
