08/06/2026
No Saturday league games this week but our Women’s Softball team did kick off their league campaign on Sunday after an impressive cup win against Llandaff the week before.
The format of the league is Pairs cricket and we welcomed Abercynon to the Hospital ground for a double header.
In the first game, it was the visitors who won the toss and chose to bowl first.
The first batting pair for us, Suzanne and Emma, got us off to a strong start as we put on 23 in the first 4 overs without losing a wicket.
In the middle overs of the innings, we lost a couple of wickets but Hayley top scored for the innings with 14, running well between the wickets with Izzy who was on debut.
The final pair was made up of the captain, Emily and Darcy who alongside Izzy has come through our Girls section.
These two were both unbeaten, helping us to a competitive score of 92 for the loss of just 4 wickets off our 16 overs.
With the ball, things started well for Whitchurch with a wicket for Emma thanks to catch from Emily standing up to the stumps as wicket keeper.
Izzy then struck with two wickets in her first over, one caught by Emma and the other by Emily to put Whitchurch on top.
Abercynon though managed a couple of boundaries soon after and with wides scoring 2 a piece, the score was creeping back up.
Two wickets in an Abi over, one clean bowled and the other run out by Abi herself gave us some breathing space.
A wicket for Hayley thanks to a catch by Suzanne meant the required run rate for Abercynon was creeping higher and higher.
Some economical final few overs from Emily, Suzanne and Izzy saw us home to an 8 run win.
In the second game, both sides made a few changes to ensure opportunities for match experience were maximised.
It was once again Whitchurch-Heath to bat first.
Abi and Izzy opened up the innings and got us off to a strong start sharing 28 unbeaten runs in the first four overs, Abi top scoring with 17 including two boundaries.
Abercynon fought back with three wickets in the second quarter to push us back a little bit before Darcy and Suzanne counter attacked well.
The final pair of Emily and Rabia on debut dominated proceedings in the final four overs.
Rabia hit 21* including two sixes in a fantastic display of batting, ably assisted by Emily who finished unbeaten on 11.
The final score of 128 for the loss of just 4 wickets felt well above par.
There was a wicket off the first ball of Abercynon’s innings thanks to a catch by Izzy off the bowling of Abi.
After this though, the opposition made a fast recovery, notching up a flurry of early boundaries.
The second pair carried on finding the boundary although two wickets in an Izzy over helped rein Abercynon back in.
Rabia’s bowling was also proving very difficult to get away with her 3 overs going for just 10 runs with one wicket picked up.
The game really could have gone either way - in the end, we almost snuck victory off the final ball of the game, but couldn’t quite find the run out we needed, slipping to defeat by 3 runs.
A fantastic day of cricket – great to see some new faces representing our Women’s team, and now having brought a couple through from the Junior section who put in superb performances.
Those who have been there from the start continue to make massive strides. We looked really well organised, stayed competitive but played in a really welcoming and upbeat spirit.
Next league fixtures are on 12th July against St Fagans and we await news of our opponents in the next round of the cup.
