Abbotskerswell Cricket Club was the venue for the final festival of the summer, in which, 16 women from across Sidmouth competed.

Following a successful ‘Wine and Wickets’ training programme which has seen 30 different women engaged and involved giving cricket a go, it was outstanding to see so many of those actually playing in some games.

After two previous festival unbeaten runs, the Sidmouth ladies went in full of confidence of maintaining their 100 per cent record.

This was obviously going to be more difficult spreading their playing resources over two teams this time round.

Both Sidmouth teams showcased the real progress that they have made in the three disciplines of the game.

With straighter bowling, more consistent striking when batting, and confidence when fielding.

It was noticeable the 16 players fielded by Sidmouth were now able to execute their skills with greater levels of confidence, compared to their first festival 8 weeks ago!

The two teams played in a total of six softball pairs matches, against teams from across the county, including; Bradninch, Abbotskerswell, Ipplepen, and Bovey Tracey.

Sidmouth managed to win four of those matches and suffered two close defeats, losing one of those games by a four run margin.

Some highlights from across the games, were the clean striking of Taryn Murray who struck five maximums in one over delivered by an Abbotskerswell lady!

Helen Bartlett, who took an amazing one-handed catch on the boundary to stop the Ipplepen batter from smashing a six and Tash Fowler, who served up some terrific selective hitting to get her team over the line in the game against Ipplepen.

It was also great to see six-year-old Maddie Russell put on the pink shirt and bowl beautifully in two of the games, she even got a wicket!

Well done, to all the ladies that played, thanks to the Murray family and other supporters that came to watch and cheer on the Sidmouth teams.

Lastly, thanks, to the ladies for organising and transporting the teams down to Abbotskerswell.

Two more weeks are now being planned of training, plus negotiations with the Bradninch ladies are taking shape for a fixture home and away.