Sidbury Ladies hosted Paignton in their first home league fixture at the Millfield after the East Devon village team took the bold step to enter a Ladies XI into the Devon League this year.
Just three seasons after the Club re-joined the Devon League and after recently establishing both junior boys and girls teams, the latest step was to start a Ladies XI.
Ably led by skipper Caitlan Perry and coached and managed by Dave Higgs, the girls have got stuck in, jumping straight into an established and competitive league.
The season stuttered due to rain, with a cancellation at Plymouth, and the girls managed to play their first league fixture away at Ipplepen, but this was the first chance to play at home.
On a scorching Sunday afternoon, Paignton batted first in the 35-over contest. Paignton travelled with a strong outfit and no less than three Devon County players.
Despite the powerful opposition, the Sidbury girls fought hard and were commended for their strong fielding performance, with both Perry sisters getting amongst the wickets, Jess with two and Caitlin one.
Paignton eventually went on to score 278, with one of the opposition scoring an impressive century, but the Sidbury Ladies gained valuable experience, bowling accurately and sharing the bowling amongst eight of the team.
Not to be overwhelmed by the large total, the Sidbury ladies quickly got themselves organised and took the game back to Paignton.
Openers Rosie Miller and Olivia Morgan got off to a great start, with Rosie managing to find the boundary with ease.
A couple of wickets fell, bringing Charlote Austen-Rigby and Lucy Humphreys to the crease, again keeping the scoring rate up. Lucy went to build an innings, ending with 45 not out, playing some excellent shots all around the wicket.
Sadly, she ran out of partners, but not before the score had raced to creditable 127. As this was just the second competitive game for the team this year, there were some really encouraging signs, solid bowling and fielding, extremely powerful batting, and most important of all, a great spirit amongst the team.