Gunnersbury were crowned winners of Middlesex in the Community's Indoor Competition earlier this week - finishing ahead of Stanmore and Stoke Newington after three great weeks of cricket.
The opening game of the final night was between Stanmore and Gunnersbury, with Stanmore winning the toss and choosing to bowl. Gunnersbury started brightly with 17 coming from the first over, but Stanmore fought back taking wickets and some good bowling meant that only another 20 runs were added for the first pair. However, Stanmore were only able to take two more wickets and the Gunnersbury side, displaying a mix of youth and experience were able to rack up 120 in the first innings. In reply, despite obvious improvements in their overall batting, with a marked improvement in their running in particular, Stanmore were only about to muster 37 in reply with continuous wickets pegging them back.
The game that followed saw Stoke Newington take on Gunnersbury for final time. The first two games with between the two sides had both been excellent and came down to the last over with Gunnersbury prevailing on both occasions. Gunnersbury’s bowling was not at its clinical best in the first game of the night, but they started brilliantly with a wicket first ball of a great opening over that immediately put Stoke Newington on the back foot. However, the east London outfit rallied, largely thanks to a middle pairing that put on 37 from their three overs as they finished on a slightly lower than hoped but still competitive, 60. In reply, Gunnersbury never really got going, suffocated by some tight bowling and an energetic fielding effort, 30 from two overs quickly became 36 off nine thanks to two quick wickets and in a reverse to the first two matches, it was Stoke Newington that closed the game out to inflict Gunnersbury’s only defeat in their final match of the competition.
To bring proceedings to a close, the final match was between Stoke Newington and Stanmore. The former won the toss and elected to bowl once again but Stoke Newington, buoyed by the chance to go unbeaten on the night made a fast start, scoring 42 from the first pair. However, Stanmore didn’t give up and put in both their best bowling and batting performance to first restrict Stoke Newington to 107 (the lowest score they’d conceded) and then racked up 57 (their highest innings score) and although they still lost, showed a marked improvement from their first game.
Speaking of the competition, Partnership Manager (Women & Girls), Dan Reynolds, said: "These past three weeks have been another excellent step forward for women’s cricket in Middlesex.
"The cricket was excellent and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
"We want to encourage women’s players to continue playing through the winter months and away from club nets and the MITC Indoor League was a great way of doing that and it’s something I hope we can grow exponentially in years to come. I thank all the teams for being a part of the competition and particularly Ashish Lahklani for umpiring each week.”
Emma Bernstein of Gunnersbury added: "Many thanks to MITC for organising a brilliant tournament. All of our players really enjoyed the format and the relaxed environment meant everyone was encouraged to have a go!"
Lisa Buckingham of Stoke Newington said: “Thanks to MITC for organising, it’s been great fun. It’s good to be back playing again.”
Yogi Deogan of Stanmore, concluded with: “We have had so much fun week-on-week. We can’t wait for more cricket!”
