Captain Esther Lanser and Trin McCarthy put together the only meaningful combination in Wanganui's eight-wicket loss to Manawatu at Victoria Park yesterday. PHOTO/BEVAN CONLEY
Captain Esther Lanser and Trin McCarthy put together the only meaningful combination in Wanganui's eight-wicket loss to Manawatu at Victoria Park yesterday. PHOTO/BEVAN CONLEY
It was not going to be a good afternoon in the sun for the Anndion Lodge Wanganui women's cricket team when their sole contributing batswoman at Mike Shrimpton Trophy level fell in the opening overs yesterday.
Soldiering on without their main runscorer in their two previous representative games, a coupleof the veterans tried to hold firm but a score of 99 all out was easily picked off by Manawatu, leaving Wanganui with a 0-3 record in the first matches played by a senior women's team in 14 years.
Winning the toss and batting first on Victoria Park's No1 pitch, Wanganui were immediately in trouble when opener Jessica Watkin, who made scores of 30 and 61 in the previous matches, fell to the pace of Hannah Rowe.
The lanky Rowe bowled a good line and picked up three of Wanganui's top order as they teetered at 45-4 by the first drinks break.
Captain Esther Lanser top scored with 29, in partnership with Trin McCarthy (27 not out), who rejoined the team this season as a survivor from the last women's senior squad in the late 1990s. But when Lanser hit one straight up in the air for the Manawatu keeper to snaffle, the writing was on the wall at 60-6 after 25 overs. Mikaela Greig cleaned up the tail to finish with four wickets for 22 runs.
Wanting to wrap the match up early, former Irish international player Eimear Richardson stroked a brisk 62 not out, as Manawatu reached 100-2 within 22 overs. Lanser and Briar Cloake got the Wanganui wickets.
The next cricket planned solely for women will be when the Wanganui youth team plays in the Festival of Cricket in January.
Wanganui Cricket officer Dilan Raj said both under-18 and under-15 teams will travel to Christchurch at the end of the season, while they are investigating the prospect of playing in the social Twilight Cricket league for the veterans who have returned to the sport this year.
