The 2023 Beyond Boundaries Women’s T20 Scottish Cup winner will be crowned on Sunday, with four teams in the running for silverware at Perth Doo’Cot.
The semi-finals see Grange CC meet West of Scotland CC and Watsonian CC taking on Stewart’s Melville CC at 11am at Doo’cot Park in Perth.
The final, which will be streamed live and available to watch on the Cricket Scotland YouTube channel as well as via the CS Live app, will be at 3pm. With last year’s champions Northern Lights and this summer’s Women’s Premier League winners Carlton not involved, all remaining teams will sense an opportunity.
Ahead of their last four tie, Catherine Edwards from Grange said: “I think it’s fair to say we’re really looking forward to playing some competitive cricket this weekend.
“Results-wise this season has been quite a turnaround from last year, but it’s great to see a lot of the same faces in this team developing together.
“The youngsters have certainly benefitted from having a few more experienced cricketers around this year though and it’s helped in growing the team identity.
“Unfortunately, Dumfries and Galloway had to pull out [of the quarter-final] which was a real shame, so we’ve not actually had to play our way to finals day.
“It means this Sunday will be our first T20 action of the year, but I think the girls are all up for it. Most of all it’s probably our last day of cricket of the season, so a chance to go out and have fun together on the pitch one last time this season.”
Nadia Tolliday from West of Scotland said: “I really just want to put across that I’m incredibly proud of my team and we have had a great season. Everyone has contributed so much.
“There are players that have shone, our younger players such as Maryam Faisal, Nayma Sheikh and Jenna Stanton have developed so much this season and have really stepped up to cement their position in the squad as well as developing the rest of the team.
“Another special mention to Nayma for being a wonderful vice-captain and becoming so much more confident in helping lead.
“A final special mention to Cammy Sriram who has been a long-time player for West and has been there since the very beginning. She has been in great form and I can always count on to get wickets during the tough overs.
“We are all very excited for the finals day and look forward to getting on the pitch and celebrating women’s cricket.”
Ahead of the all-Edinburgh other last four clash, Emily Tucker of Watsonians said: “We’ve had a really fun season at Watsonians, but we just didn’t fire in the early games.
“Since we collaborated with Dumfries the dynamic has shifted and results have improved. It felt good to show that we could compete with the best when we beat the league winners [Carlton] in the quarters.
“It was probably a shock result to some people, but we hope to bring some of that form to finals day on Sunday.”
Hannah Short of Stewart’s Melville said: “It’s been an exciting year for Stew Mel across all formats as we have seen the rise of our juniors, not only competing against, but causing problems for some of the best players in Scotland.
“To have seven senior players from last year unavailable this year has been a credit to the depth and fighting spirit of the programme that we continue to keep our name in the mix of teams to watch out for.
“As a team we are excited by the opportunity presented on Sunday. We have absolutely nothing to lose, and it should be a great day of cricket to cap off the season.”
Thanks to Graham Gaw for the image of Watsonians and Stewart’s Melville playing earlier in the season
