Leicestershire Women Complete Tricky Run Chase Against Notts Outlaws Women In Rain Affected T20

By Ben Hazelden

Rebecca Brooker ran the show with a confident 46 off 30 as Leicestershire Foxes Women completed a superb run chase over Notts Outlaws Women by eight wickets.

The Nottinghamshire openers made use of the powerplay as they scored quickly to make 28 off the first four overs without loss.

Teresa Graves was playing well with three boundaries, but that was cut short when Australian bowler Piepa Cleary picked up her first wicket of the campaign, Lucy Weston taking a comfortable catch at cover.

This was followed shortly by a second wicket when Hannah Francis delivered a beauty of an  in- swinger to remove Ella Porter.

With both openers gone Notts could’ve crumbled, but Michaela Kirk was straight into her work with a cut off the back foot to the boundary.

Kirk looked in fine touch, taking to the bowling of Aimee Colquhoun and Prisha Thanawala, making 36 off 24 balls to bolster The Outlaws score.

But her time at the crease was cut short when a mix-up with Rhiannon Knowling- Davies at the other end meant Colquhoun just had to whip off the bails for a simple run-out.

Despite that wicket, The Outlaws were looking at a decent total, already having scored 89 with two overs remaining.

But the Leicestershire bowlers finished well picking up two more wickets in Emily Hughes (bowled by Zaynah Rehman) and Eleanor Owen (Run Out).

The Foxes required 98 off 13 overs to win.

Leicestershire responded in equal fashion, scoring quickly in the power-play to make 33 runs without losing a wicket.

Brooker was crunching boundaries to all parts of the ground with Sophie Bennett in support, but they suffered a set-back when Bennett struck the ball straight to extra-cover off the bowling of Meghna Rajan.

That didn’t seem to deter the Foxes though as Beth Wright came in and offered good support to the opener.

With two overs remaining the Foxes required 22 to win, Brooker looked to get the job finished quickly with two boundaries over mid-wicket.

But it was a good response from Teresa Graves who trapped Brooker lbw next ball, four short of her 50.

This wasn’t enough though as Leicestershire made it home with the help of some extras in the final few balls of the innings to complete a fine victory over their local rivals.