Mersham show their class

Mersham Sports Club ladies’ cricket team opened their indoor season with a bang, winning their first tournament of the season undefeated.

At Polo Farm’s Indoor Sports Centre, the ladies opened the round-robin competition with a steady performance against newcomers Capel and ran home comfortable winners.

Their second-round tie was played against tournament favourites St Lawrence & Highland Court.

St Lawrence opened the scoring with an impressive 82 from their eight overs, however, a combination of good catches, fielding and bowling kept the total down somewhat. Ella Darlington took 3-5 in her last over.

Mersham began the task of knocking off the score, with Darlington and Olivia Dungate-Marsh retiring on 20 and then both returning to knock the runs needed off for an excellent win.

Mersham’s next opposition were the formidable Town Malling, a fast-developing group of fine cricketers.

They won the toss, inserted the opposition and produced a fine display of bowling, backed up with some excellent fielding, to restrict Town Malling to 75.

Batting second, Mersham knocked off the runs required with overs to spare.

Having won all the roundrobin games, Mersham had set the standard, but the rules of the competition meant the ladies would face St Lawrence once again in the final.

For the first time, Mersham were inserted by St Lawrence who won the toss.

With a reduced match which consisted of eight four-ball overs being played, Mersham set a challenging total of 75 to win, Darlington once again leading the way with a fine 20 declared and skipper Jemma Coales rattling up another 20 in quick time.

This proved too much for St Lawrence.

They needed 19 in the last over when the Mersham ladies piled on the pressure with some accurate bowling and exceptional fielding to earn the win.

Mersham ladies training is open to anyone aged 12 or over on Mondays.

Indoor softball training is from 6pm until 7.30pm at The North School, with indoor hardball training from 7.30pm to 9pm at the same place.

Contact Lisa Webb by emailing lisawebb223@btinternet.com for further information.

Mersham Sport Club’s ladies’ cricket team remained undefeated at the tournament