England XI Make Impressive Start to European Title Defence

England produced two clinical bowling and fielding displays to begin their defence of the European T10 Women’s Championship title with victories over Netherlands and Scotland on the opening day of the Premier Division at the Cartama Oval near Malaga.

England XI launched their title defence with a seven wickets win over Netherlands in the first match of the day and then recovered from posting a below-par 77 for seven against Scotland to record a 16 runs win at the end of the day.

England XI impressed with their catching and ground fielding in both matches with wicketkeeper Maddie Ward of Yorkshire leading the way with some smart glovework.

Disciplined bowling, particularly against Scotland, also made run-scoring difficult for the Netherland and Scotland batters although England XI missed out on a bonus point in both of their victories.

Against Netherlands, England captain Chiara Green took three for 17 including the wickets of Hannah Landheer – smartly stumped by Ward – and Lotte Schmidt, taken one-handed by Jasmine Westley, with her off spin.

Former Staffordshire pace bowler Amy Wheeler – one of six survivors from last year’s victorious side in the squad – made early inroads and Westley, formerly with Essex but currently without a county, kept things tight at the end to restrict Netherlands to 96 for nine.

England XI lost Tilly Kesteven, the Lancashire and former Cumbria left-hander, in the first over of the chase but Westley and Ria Fackrell added 52 in three overs for the second wicket to set up the win.

Westley made 28 from 11 balls before she fell to a catch at point but Fackrell struck three sixes in her 17-ball 43 before she picked out long-on with England XI 21 short of victory.

Beth Gammon accelerated England to their target with 16 balls to spare by making 19 not out from ten balls.

In their second match of the day England laboured with the bat against tight Scottish bowling with Kesteven’s 19 coming at only a run-a-ball.

Amy Gordon found some fluency by hitting half of her side’s four sixes in her 12-ball 17 but it was Beth Gammon who ensured England XI posted what proved to be a winning total with four fours in her unbeaten 21 from ten balls.

Although Scotland had made only 56 for eight in their heavy defeat by Ireland earlier in the day, they would have fancied their chances of causing an upset before they began their chase.

But their innings quickly unravelled against the pace of England XI’s seamers which was again backed up by excellent catching and fielding.

Caitlin Belcher, formerly with Shropshire and now with Gloucestershire, took two wickets in the first over, bowling both Darcey Carter and Pippa Kelly with full length balls.

Abbi Aitken-Drummond was smartly stumped by Ward off Rhiannon Knowling-Davies and Scotland subsided to 17 for six when they lost three wickets in three balls.

Ellen Watson drove Emilia Lamb to Gordon at point, Belcher returned to have Scotland captain Katherine Fraser taken at third by Rachel King and Niamh Muir was run out without facing next ball after Maryam Faisal tried to scamper a single from the hat-trick ball.

Faisal and Kirsty McColl then fell in successive deliveries from Lamb which left Scotland down and out at 28 for eight with five batters going for ducks.

Mollie Parker (25) and Maisie Maceira (12 not out) stopped the rot with a ninth wicket partnership of 32 which ensured that Scotland collected their first point of the tournament and denied England XI a bonus point.

Fackrell eventually broke the partnership by having Parker superbly caught by King at short fine leg in the final over of the match.

England XI play one match on the second day of the competition (Monday December 16) against Ireland (12.35pm GMT).

European T10 Women’s Championship

Cartama Oval, Malaga

Match One: Netherlands 96-9 (Chiara Green 3-17, Jasmine Westley 2-14, Amy Wheeler 2-18), England XI 97-3 (Ria Fackrell 41, Jasmine Westley 28). England XI won by seven wickets.

Match Two: England XI 77-7 (Beth Gammon 20 not out), Scotland 61-9 (Caitlin Belcher 3-8, Emilia Lamb 3-9). England XI won by 16 runs.

England XI | Chiara Green (Sussex), Beth Gammon (Glamorgan), Libby Thomas (Glamorgan), Maddie Ward (Yorkshire), Ria Fackrell (Yorkshire), Amy Wheeler (The Blaze), Caitlin Belcher (Gloucestershire), Rhiannon Knowling-Davies (Derbyshire), Emilia Lamb (Lancashire), Tilly Kesteven (Lancashire), Rachel King (Sussex), Jasmine Westley (unattached), Amy Gordon (Kent).

📸 Diana Oros