Yesterday, our Women’s XI played their first ever match. The visitors to the Racecourse Ground were Reading Lions in the first round of the Berkshire Women’s Softball Cup.

And what a great nailbiting match to start off with! Reading won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Gemma and Sarah got Ascot off to a solid start but a wicket from Raenu in the final over for the pair saw Ascot pegged back to 211.

Sophie and Louise then went on the offensive and despite losing a couple of wickets moved Ascot to 229 off 8 overs, with Sophie top scoring with 12.

Our third pair, Beverley and Jenny then gave the innings the acceleration it needed with a partnership of 28 to see Ascot to 257 off 12 overs to set up the finale.

The last pair of Hemi and Eleanor gave the innings a great finish putting on 34 runs to see Ascot to a very competitive total of 291 off 16 overs.

Raenu was the pick of the Reading Lions bowling 3 overs with 2 wickets for 17 runs.

Reading started off with the pair Deepthi and Vinusha and despite losing a wicket to the bowling of Sarah gave Reading a solid start taking them to 222 off 4 overs.

Next in were Raenu and Bency and they continued the steady scoring although Sophie pegged them in the final over of their set, finishing on 245 off 8 overs.

Uthara and Hema kept the score ticking over with a partnership of 22 runs. So with 4 overs left the final pair needed 25 to win.

Captain Darshun and Keerthi were the final pair and it proved to be a thriller to end. A run out by Sophie in the 14th overs left Reading needing 18 off 2 overs, which became 11 off the final over after a good over from Sarah.

Sophie bowled the final over and despite some great deliveries, captain Darshun was able to get Reading to the score of 292 with one ball remaining. Darshun saw out the final delivery to see Reading Lions through by one run and into the 2nd round and a trip to Falkland CC.

Darshun top scored with 16 and Sarah was the pick of the Ascot bowlers with 3 overs, 1 wicket for 17 runs.

What a great start to Women’s cricket at Ascot, and we look forward to seeing more of you watching and hopefully inspire new players to join.