Bready, (Cricket news): Pembroke Cricket Club are the inaugural champions of the women’s Clear Currency All-Ireland T20 Cup after a comprehensive 9-wicket win over hosts Bready Cricket Club.
Captain Mary Waldron led the side home with a dominating display scoring 22* from 23 balls, while her opening partner Louise Little’ cameo knock of 19 from 14 balls broke the back of the run-chase.
In a match that was reduced to 10 overs-a-side due to earlier rainfall, the Bready side scored 50-8 from their 10 overs in damp conditions that were difficult to score freely. As in the semi-final Bready skipper Alana Dalzell shined with the bat, striking back-to-back boundaries at one point however on 14 she was fooled by a ball from Mhairi Nichol and Waldron quickly removed the bails to complete the stumping.
While there were instances of attacking play from Jemma Rankin and Kathryn Rough, no other Bready batter could take on the disciplined bowling from the star-studded Pembroke which featured 5 current or former internationals in its playing main eleven.
Knowing that low run chases in such conditions can be hard, Waldron and Little set about scoring quickly as their 32 run opening stand came from just 23 balls which also featured an enormous six struck by Little over deep long on.
Little was the only wicket that fell thanks to some quick thinking behind the stumps by Amy Campbell that saw Little caught out of her crease. But the seemingly inevitable result came a few overs later when Waldron hit a four and a two to complete a 9 wicket win by her Dublin-based side.
Louise Little cas adjudged the Player of the Match and Pembroke were crowned the inaugural Clear Currency All-Ireland T20 Cup winners for 2021.
Semi-final
In the semi-final which took place earlier in the day, hosts Bready pulled off a thrilling 11-run (DLS) win over the more fancied CSNI side from Belfast, led to victory by their star captain Alana Dalzell.
Dalzell carried her bat throughout the Bready innings, she finished with 47* from 66 balls, looking in fine touch on a tricky pitch that saw only one other of her batting partners reach double figures. She smacked three boundaries through a damp outfield, but more importantly held her side together through several tricky rain-breaks and a middle-order collapse that saw Bready lose 4-6 in the space of twelve balls.
Kathryn Rough (14) was the only other Bready batter who provided some bit of assistance to Dalzell in the slow pitch and after 20 overs the home side finished on what looked like a competitive total of 105-8.
CSNI started in the manner they would not have wanted, losing their captain Rachael Thomas for 0 on the second ball, but then the rains came again for a lengthy period which eventually saw eight overs lost, with a revised DLS target of 74 announced. After an initial flourish from Ali Cowan (18 from 16 balls), the wickets began to fall during the run chase and also saw three run outs.
Dalzell then worked wonders with the ball claiming 2-8 from two overs as her Bready side closed in on an unexpected victory.
A remarkable bowling cameo at the end saw 11-year old Mansie Bhavsar given the ball at the death and finished with 2-1 off her single over, showing incredible calmness and maturity with CSNI pushing for a late win.
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