Alton Women make it 6 from 6 at Aldershot

At the start of the season most pundits thought that the Alton would be relegation favourites. At the halfway point in the fixtures the Brewers Ladies team find themselves top of the table and 6-0 after defeating a strong Aldershot at Aldershot with contributions from players 1-11. Alton were keen to field first and make use of the new ball on a track that looked like it had something for all of the bowlers; they were given the chance to do just that, after Aldershot won the toss and elected to bat, possibly also not surprising with the strength in their top order. Jo Harfield was almost out in the first over as a catch fell just short of Gemma Harper, but when she offered a second chance off Martha Bilsland (7-0-21-2), Gemma Lane pouched the catch. Taylor Newcombe (13) and Ella Chandler (60) kept the rate ticking along and it took the introduction of Gemma Porter’s spin to remove Taylor, caught at mid-wicket by Amelia Marshall. At drinks the hosts were well placed at 93/2 and were threatening a huge score. Alton’s skipper Gadsby held her nerve and brought on the “slow but accurate” donkey drops of Marshall (8-3-18-2). After a few cautious drives Chandler came down the track, only to miss the ball and get bowled. That was the turning point of the innings and Gadsby immediately brought back on Abi Green (8-0-31-1) to press home the advantage. The youngster enticed an edge from Amy Page (15), which was well taken by Julia Moulton behind the stumps and when Marshall also removed Kirin Sahota (8) Alton knew that they had broken the back of the Aldershot batting. The next passage of play was all Alton, Nic herself throwing down the stumps to execute a runout of Watson and the impressive seam duo of Gemma L (8-0-37-1) and Martha (7-2-21-2) closing out the innings taking a wicket a piece – Aldershot ended up on 141/8. Special mention to Lilly Wilson who only agreed to play the night before and fielded excellently. The great thing about Alton nowadays is that the opposition don’t know where the danger is coming from. It seemed that they had targeted the Vipers duo of Gemma P (10) and Amelia (19) and looked to stop their scoring shots; they should have perhaps concentrated more on Gemma Harper who has steadily gained confidence through the season. The left hander punished anything on the leg side and slowly accumulated runs. When she was eventually out for 55 the relief in the Aldershot ranks was palpable but despite Chandler marshalling the field excellently, the damage had been done. The middle order batted around Gemma H and released the pressure when needed with big overs. Julia Moulton (17) and Gemma L (26) kept the visitors ahead of the required rate and even the late wickets of Julia and Abi could not salvage anything for Aldershot. Great credit that they took it to the last over, but even more credit to Gemma L who struck the first ball for 4 and closed out the game.
Alton win 23-6