With second grade enjoying a bye for the weekend, it was up to our first grade girls to fly the flag for the club’s women’s grade teams, and they did so in style with a tenacious victory over the Gold Coast at home.
First Grade OD vs Gold Coast
With all of the rep players away on WBBL duties, it was up to the young guns to make the magic happen in first grade this weekend, and they delivered with a solid win over the visiting Gold Coast Dolphins.
The Coast won the toss and decided to bat first. After the early loss of an opener caught behind by Scarlett Varidel to a thick outside edge off opening quick Lily Bassingthwaighte, experienced batters Tara Wheeler and Carly Fuller piled on some quick runs before Carly nicked one off Jess Bryant to Scarlett. At 2/46 Wests were starting to make inroads, but Tara Wheeler and Eliza Flynn ran up another 74 runs before Eliza holed out to Annie Wikman off Jess Bryant’s bowling for 29. Liv Steel and Scarlett combined shortly after for a runout and Wests had their tails up with the Coast at 4/120.
But with Tara Wheeler still at the crease the Dolphins were still a great chance of a big score. Medium pacer Jess Bryant and leggie Naiya Varidel combined through the middle overs to keep a cap on the scoring rate with very accurate bowling, and it paid dividends as the GC tried to accelerate and lost wickets at key stages. With the loss of Tara for a fantastic 103, the visitors run rate was pegged back but they still finished on a challenging total of 7/221.
In the past couple of seasons, our girls had been having trouble chasing totals of this magnitude, but this time around the nerves of steel were rolled out and our batters put on a fine display of willowy grit!
Openers Annie Wikman and Naiya Varidel put on 120 runs for the first wicket before Naiya edged a wide delivery to the keeper and departed with 42 runs to her name. Isabel Goffage was unfortunately run out soon after, Annie soon departed for a fantastic 86, and Olivia Hartland was run out, leaving the girls 58 runs short of the target at 4/164. For a moment it was looking like their great start might be developing a speed wobble, but Liv Steel and Emma Lockwood got the show back on track. Another couple of wickets fell though, and with the departure of Sophie Whittaker and the score at 206, it was up to keeper-batswoman Scarlett Varidel to combine with Jess Bryant to take them home. They calmly knocked off the final runs and completed a fine run chase with three overs to spare.
Fantastic win, ladies. Great to see the young guns rising to the occasion!
Key statistics:
- Annie Wikman 86 (81)
- Naiya Varidel 42 (61)
- Olivia Steel 22 (34) & 1/49 (10)
- Emma Lockwood 11 (25)
- Jess Bryant 4/31 (10)
- Lily Bassingthwaighte 1/33 (4)
Naiya Varidel puts one over the top on her way to 42. 
Eloise Schabe launches a return from the deck… 
Captain Annie Wikman hit a match-winning 86 at a strike rate of over 100. 
Keeper Scarlett Varidel pouches a wide ball.
Second Grade – Bye
Seconds enjoyed a bye this weekend, but just couldn’t stay away from a cricket field and spent Sunday playing a practice game against UQ’s Kirsten Pike Plate team (who also had a bye and were suffering from a similar cricket-withdrawal affliction!)
By all accounts the game was a success and our 2s girls are primed to go head to head with Wynnum-Manly next weekend at GMP!
