Bears Women Head Coach Ali Maiden was left proud of the way his side fought back in this afternoon’s defeat to The Blaze at Trent Bridge after a loose powerplay ultimately proved too much to overturn.
The Blaze successfully defended a total of 151-7 as the Bears fell 11 runs short, despite Meg Austin’s eye-catching 74 off 51 balls, but the damage was done in the bowling powerplay as The Blaze charged to 61-1.
Maiden believes that opening six overs, which included 13 extras, gave his side a mountain too tall to climb.
“I thought we did really well in lots of parts, but I felt the game, we made it hard for ourselves in the bowling innings really because that pitch wasn’t straightforward,” he said. “I thought 140 would have been about right, and they obviously got 150. In the powerplay, they got a lot up front against us and we gave them 15 extras in the powerplay. So to me, I think we made hard work for ourselves really on that wicket.
“However, we still did a really good job with the bat and we were in with a chance of winning it. But when you start to lose wickets and you’re on the cusp of being behind the rate, when you lose wickets and batters have got to go in on that wicket and get going straight away, I think that was quite tough.
“Frustrating, but we keep trying to chip away at little things that we’re doing to improve. I think we’ve improved again from the last game that we played, and that’s all we can do really, is keep trying to get better.”
Austin’s 74 was a clear highlight for the Bears and Maiden also reserved praise for spinners Hannah Baker and Georgia Davis, who used the Trent Bridge pitch to their advantage.
“Meg played brilliantly today, 70-odd off 50-odd balls. That’s a real step forward for her again. She’s been really good in the powerplay and has struggled to extend her innings, and that’s one thing I’ve challenged her to do, and she’s gone and done that today. So there’s little improvements here and there all the time.
“The pitch has been played on quite a bit, so it was always going to be more conducive to spin. But Hannah and Georgia bowled really nicely and they got us back in the game from a rough start.
“We’ve been playing on really good wickets at Edgbaston, really fantastic surfaces, and it’s been hard work bowling. It’s been tough. So keeping the bowlers’ morale up has been the biggest challenge, and so it’s nice to see them get some rewards today. I think that’s good for their confidence.”
Attention now turns to Sunday’s Vitality Blast double header against Somerset at Taunton and Maiden is not expecting any of his injured players to return to action, despite taking steps forward in their recovery over the last week.
“Another week probably, I would have thought at least. We’re close, but they just started batting this week, so we’re still not in a position really to get them back yet.”