Wildcats A vs Staffordshire
Having won the toss skipper Lois Wilkinson had no hesitation in asking Staffordshire to bat first on a green tinged wicket at Audley Cricket Club. Katie McGill (1/29) provided the early breakthrough in the 4thover finding the edge of the bat, with debutant Ailsa Lister pouching a comfortable catch behind the stumps. From 16/1, Hughes & Whyte took the attack to the Wildcats bowlers with a flurry of boundaries and moved the score on to 50/1 from 10 overs.
Hughes & Whyte both passed 50 as Wilkinson rotated her bowlers in search of an all important breakthrough, which came in the 32ndover as the returning Hannah Rainey (3/23) bowled Hughes for a well made 80. Two more partnerships took the Staffordshire total over the 200 mark, and following a wicket from Caitlin Ormiston (1/21) Hannah Rainey then picked up wickets in consecutive balls which helped to slow the run rate. Whyte (103*) continued on to bring up her century as the Staffordshire innings closing on 249/5.
Lister (2) and Charis Scott (4) opened the innings for the Wildcats A’s but both fell cheaply to Stones (2/13) and with Wilkinson being run out without scoring, the Wildcats were wobbling on 24/3. Katie McGill (46*) joined Rachel Scholes (56 retired) with both batters showing a mixture of boundary hitting and strike rotation as the score moved past 100 before Scholes was injured completing a quick single.
Staffordshire seized the opportunity that had been presented to them and continued to take consistent wickets, with very little support being given to McGill. The innings came to a close on 159/9, Scholes not returning to bat due to the injury she had suffered earlier in the day.
Wildcats A vs Derbyshire
Having lost the toss at Mayhare Cricket Club the Wildcats As were asked to bat first by Derbyshire. Scott (2) and Lister (5) again opened the innings with both falling to Georgie Harrison (3/31) leaving McGill (45) and Wilkinson (36) to rebuild the innings, moving the score to 71 before Wilkinson popped a chance back to Alice Fox (1/28) which she gratefully accepted.
Sam Haggo (20) joined McGill at the crease and they shared a 51 run partnership before a mix up ended with Haggo being run out, bringing Ruth Willis to the crease. Willis (31) shared partnerships with McGill, Farooq (5) and McColl (11) before falling to Molly Dytham (2/19.) The lower order batters took the score over 200 before Ormiston (7) fell, closing the innings on 204.
Early wickets would be required to put Derbyshire under pressure, and Wilkinson (2/40) duly obliged trapping both Lauren Tuffrey (0) and Lauren Rowles (1) in front of the stumps to leave Derbyshire reeling at 16/2.
Bess Heath (51) joined Natasha Allen (71) at the crease with both batters hitting the ball clean and straight in a counter attack that took the score 130 before Heath found Ormiston at extra cover off the bowling of Abtaha Maqsood (1/30.) Allen perished in the following over, finding the safe hands of Ruth Willis at long on to give Megan McColl (1/28) her only wicket of the day.
Leah Kellogg (14) and Megan Pittman (41*) took Derbyshire to the brink of victory before Kellogg fell to a smart catch on the boundary courtesy of Laura Grant. The final 17 runs were knocked off, leading to a Derbyshire victory by 5 wickets.
The Wildcats A team are in action again this Sunday when they travel to Kirkby Stephen CC to take on Cumbria.
