Abbey Freeborn commended the all-round team performance after Warwickshire Bears secured their first Women’s Vitality Blast victory of the season against Surrey Women at Edgbaston Stadium.
Freeborn shone with the bat, top-scoring with 51 during the Bears’ 172/5, and then led the way in the field with three catches as the home side bowled Surrey out 130 and a 42-run victory.
The 29-year-old’s starring role was supported by a superb team effort, including 50 from opening batter Davina Perrin on her first Blast start of the year, and each bowler contributing towards what Freeborn feels was a performance in which everyone played their part.
“I think we’ve had a bit of a tough start this year, and I think the break came at the right time, but we put in so much hard work behind the scenes and we’re really quite well together as a team, and it’s just so nice and so rewarding for it to happen on the pitch today.
“I think everyone turned up, everyone played their role really well. I hope that’s a big boost of confidence for us going into the next round of matches, but we were really good.”
Freeborn pinpointed both Powerplays as pivotal moments in the game, with the batting Powerplay of particular importance.
“That’s what we try and do, in the Powerplay, especially the batting one, we try and go hard, and that’s our role to not necessarily stay there for too long, but score as many runs as we can or as possible. It came off for us both today, so it’s really pleasing.
“It’s tricky because upon reflection, batting in the Powerplay was so much easier than batting in the middle overs and I think we’ve won that match in winning both Powerplays really. I knew we could defend 172, more would be nice, but it was a good target.
“It’s all about momentum in the T20, and having lost the first batch of matches, it’s really hard to come back. We won in the County Cup game a few days ago, we’ve won in the 50 over, so we’ve had winning momentum that way, so hopefully we’ll just carry that forward into the next round of games.”