Westbury crowned 2022 Women’s Soft Ball champions

Royal Wootton Bassett CC played host to the 2022 Women’s Soft Ball Finals, with Chippenham, Westbury, and Royal Wootton Bassett competing for the crown. Following completion of the group stages of this year's competition, which consisted of 8 teams, it was over to finals day!

The Women’s Soft Ball Cricket Championship adds an element of competition to Women’s Soft Ball Cricket in Wiltshire. Whilst the focus of the competition is to encourage further participation, teams will have the opportunity to play 16-over fixtures, using the generic ECB pairs cricket regulations with each team starting on 200 runs and losing 5 runs for each wicket.

A few last-minute changes to the schedule saw three teams take part in what turned out to be a very competitive Women’s Soft Ball Finals Day on Sunday 21^st August.  The altered format saw the teams compete in a round robin tournament, with teams playing two games each to determine this year’s champions.

With two points on offer for a win and NRR likely to play a factor in the day it was important to get up and running from game one!  First up, we had top league qualifiers Chippenham taking on our hosts Bassett. Bassett won the toss and elected to bat first reaching a very respectable total of 124/6 meaning Chippenham required 94/0 to win.  Some powerful hitting from a strong Chippenham final pair saw them win the game by 29 runs to take an early lead on the day.

Game two saw Bassett take on Westbury.  Fresh from their McDonalds breakfast, a very lively Westbury won the toss and captain Ellie elected to bat.  Posting a total of 113/5, they knew that this was going to be a hard-fought game and wickets would be crucial.  Some excellent batting from Bassett saw the two teams’ neck and neck throughout the game which resulted in a last over thriller!  It’s safe to say that there was a nail-biting finish with Westbury coming out as victors by just 5 runs.

With both teams tied on 2 points, the final game of the day between Chippenham and Westbury was the decider.  Some powerful hitting from Abbie, Lisa and Vickie saw Chippenham reach 131, however the Westbury bowlers were on fine form taking wickets consistently through the innings. Having lost 8 wickets in their innings, Chippenham needed to defend 91 to take home the trophy.  In reply, Westbury kept the scoreboard ticking over nicely.  Some big hitting from the final pair saw Westbury comfortably over the line to become 2022 Champions!

Wiltshire Cricket would like to thank Royal Wootton Bassett CC for hosting the day so well, to the umpires and scorers on the day, and to all teams and players who have supported this year's competition.

A final thank you to PensionBee, who kindly support Women's Recreational Cricket across Wiltshire - their support is hugely appreciated and helps to provide cricket opportunities across Wiltshire for Women & Girls of all ages and experiences! The Women's and Girls' game is becoming more popular each year and the support from sponsors and the wider cricket community is fantastic - we can't wait to see how the sport continues to grow and develop!