THE DAZZLER EXTRA – ON THIS WEEK – JUNE 28

June 29 2010

Appleton remained the last unbeaten team across all competitions, having maintained this record by the tiniest of margins at home to Chester Boughton Hall. The result meant Appleton guaranteed top spot in the T20 Western Division and a home semi-final. The Tigers needed to chase down 106 without a significant contribution from Emma Barlow on this occasion, who fell second ball to Lorna Thomas. The crucial contribution came with an unbeaten 23 in 14 deliveries from Jess Lewis, which included four from the final when two were required. It was the fifth occasion in that season when a three-figure total had not been sufficient to win a 20 over match.

July 1 2012 Appleton took a major step towards a third successive title as they beat Chester Boughton Hall off the final ball. Emma Barlow made an unbeaten 80 in their successful chase of 153.

June 30 2013 Ali Cutler took her league average for the season to an incredible 432 after an unbeaten knock of 81 in Chester’s win over Bolton Indians.

June 29 2015 Vicki Dean reached 25 in just nine deliveries and hit three of her first four balls for six in Trafford’s Knockout Cup win over Bredbury.

July 1 2015 There was an absorbing contest in this Knockout semi-final between Stockport Trinity and Wistaston Village. Fortunes ebbed and flowed, before Laura Newton saw her side home after retiring at 25, as required, and then returning in a last stand with Hannah Thornhill. Newton finished 40 not out in the successful chase of 74. At the time, the only higher individual score in the competition’s history was the 79 made by Lorna Thomas in the first final in 2007, when the match was played over 40 overs with no retirements.

July 1 2018 Upton took a big step towards the Division Three West title with their second narrow win over Nantwich in that season.

July 1 2018 Cheshire beat Berkshire in their final match to achieve the not inconsiderable feat of staying up in T20 Division Two, where three of the nine teams were relegated. Some vital late order runs from Katie Bennett and Megan Cureton took Cheshire to a competitive total, before some fine sets of figures from Sarah Worsdale and Kate Coppack completed the job.

June 30 2019 Chester Boughton Hall’s reply ended at 197-2, seven runs shy of the target set by Oakmere. Ali Cutler followed up a fine bowling spell of 3-8 with an unbeaten 104 from 84 deliveries, but in doing so could only become the record holder for the league’s highest individual innings in a losing cause. Cutler’s century was outshone by that of Dawn Prestidge, whose 123 in the Oakmere innings came from 101 deliveries. The CWCL in 2020

Most of you are aware that the resumption of recreational cricket is not currently one of the events due to occur in the July 4 wave of lockdown easing. The ECB is still in negotiations with the Government and is hopeful that the go-ahead for recreational cricket will follow shortly. Owing to the continued uncertainty as to exactly when match activity might commence, the CWCL is still working towards a target start date of August 2 – if we are able to start earlier, it will be by at most a week or two.

By Friday, the process of discovering which teams wish to participate in a formal competition will be complete, and the League can then consider appropriate competition formats.

CWCL Leading All-Rounders

Three weeks ago, this publication listed the players who have scored 1000 or more runs in league competitions since 2006, followed in the next edition by those who have taken 70 or more . But who makes it into both lists?

Batting Bowling Rank Rank 1 Ali Cutler (Chester) 2 7 2= Amanda Gettins (Trafford/ Ashton-on-M) 11 6 2= Sarah Sutcliffe (Brooklands/ Bowdon/ Romiley/ Ashton-on-M) 12 5 4= Leesa Mellon (Hyde/ Stalybridge/ Didsbury) 5 13 4= Annie Rashid (Appleton) 15 3 6 Hannah Jones (Hyde/ Stalybridge/ Didsbury) 13 9 7 Lorna Starkey (Thomas) (Chester) 8 15 8 Natalie Lyons (Appleton/ Oakmere) 16 8 9 Gillian Spragg (Trinity/ Poynton) 26 2 10 Nicola Capes (Chester) 22 11 11 Alison Smith (Oakmere/ Wistaston) 18 20 12 Rachel Warrenger (Hawarden/ Oakmere) 14 29 13 Kate Coppack (Chester) 24 23 14 Jane Tarpey (Oakmere) 33 18 15 Mary Priestner (Trafford/ Ashton-on-M) 31 21 16 Hannah Bratt (Wistaston/ Nantwich) 35 32

Which of those players also made it into the list of players with 30 or more fielding dismissals? This is a select group of just 12 players who really can count themselves as being members of the league’s elite.

Batting Bowling Fielding Rank Rank Rank 1 Ali Cutler 2 7 5 2 Annie Rashid 15 3 2 3= Leesa Mellon 5 13 9 3= Hannah Jones 13 9 5 5 Gillian Spragg 26 2 2 6 Sarah Sutcliffe 12 5 15 7 Nicola Capes 22 11 7 8 Lorna Starkey 8 15 21 9 Natalie Lyons 16 8 21 10 Alison Smith 18 20 11 11 Mary Priestner 31 21 13 12 Jane Tarpey 33 18 17

From the wider world of women’s cricket

A quirky BBC interview with Sophie Ecclestone, covering everything from becoming the number one T20 bowler in the world, her new-found love of knitting, her secret ambition to become a pilot and her experiences of asking for the autographs of her current international team-mates in her younger days. (One famous autograph hunting episode, involving , certainly occurred at the Cheshire v Yorkshire match at Alvanley CC in 2008). Sophie is currently one of four England squad players training at Chester Boughton Hall, which was selected as one of six regional training venues ahead of the squad’s re-union for full training.