West of Scotland Women secured their first Beyond Boundaries Women’s T20 Scottish Cup with an emphatic 10 wicket victory over Watsonian Women.
It was a day the Glasgow side dominated from start to finish, chasing down 29 without loss in their semi-final triumph against Grange, before repeating the feat as they eased to their target of 66 in the final.
A delighted West of Scotland captain Nadia Tolliday said: “I’m so happy, we’ve waited so long to win this and we’ve finally done it – it’s not really sunk in yet, but I’m just so happy and proud.”
Two of West’s stars were Scotland duo Nayma Sheikh, who took eight wickets on the day, and Maryam Faisal, who struck an unbeaten 48 in the final.
“Nayma’s my vice captain so I can trust her with pretty much everything, fielding positions, line ups, but for sure definitely when she’s bowling, and whenever I give her the ball I know that she’ll deliver and get me wickets.
“Maryam was just playing beautiful shots, she wasn’t trying to hit the ball too hard, waited perfectly and hit perfectly-timed shots, and it was a delight to just sit there and watch her bat.
“We finished second in the league, so it feels good to finish with a win and cap off our strong performances that we’ve delivered all season.”
Watsonian reached the day’s showpiece event after a superb, nailbiting four-wicket win over Stewart’s Melville in the morning, chasing down 113 in the final over, in large part thanks Niamh Muir’s unbeaten 40.
However, they got off to a disastrous start in the final when they lost Emily Tucker to the bowling of Emily Norris for just one in the second over.
Things went from bad to worse for the Edinburgh outfit as they slumped to 21-6, Nayma Sheikh delivering a devastating spell as she took four wickets in quick succession; a run out in the fifth over sparking a run of four wickets in five balls.
Molly Paton and Samantha Hatch then set about rebuilding the innings, the former in particular looking impressive as she struck 34.
The pair added 32 for the seventh wicket, but Hatch’s dismissal to Moon Mughis sparked another flurry of wickets, as Mughis and Jenna Stanton split the final four wickets to bowl Watsonian out for 65.
In reply, Faisal and Sheikh never looked troubled, Faisal taking on the role of the aggressor as she struck four boundaries in her 36-ball 48.
It was left to Sheikh (11*) to complete the task off the first ball of the 11th over, flicking the ball off her pads over the ring field to spark jubilant celebrations as her teammates flooded onto the pitch.
