Birmingham Bears Women are almost kicking off their 2017 NatWest T20 Blast campaign and captain Marie Kelly is looking forward to the new season. The girls finished an agonising second in the T20 Blast, which is a league competition for the women’s competition, and this season the girls have been looking to refine their approach in order to get their hands on some silverware.
“We’re going about our processes the same way as last year as we were very successful with the way we played our cricket, I think we just need to stay calm under the pressure and back our skills on the day. We will just take each game as it comes as anything can happen in t20 cricket.”
The amount of support we had and the number of people coming to watch our game was fantastic
Marie Kelly
“We’re feeling really positive and optimistic, I guess our challenge will be similar to the one day format in being clinical with our wins and make sure we’re in control of as much of the game as possible.”
The girls will once again be playing in a double header at Edgbaston this season, playing Sussex Women after the boys play Leicestershire Foxes on Sunday 16 July and the Bears skipper is once again looking forward to the game.
“We took a lot of confidence away from the double header last year, especially with how well the pitch played as that allowed us to get our biggest T20 total so it was great to have a high scoring game. The amount of support we had and the number of people coming to watch our game was fantastic as well and made the opportunity we had so much better.”
“As a team we’re ready for the t20 competition now and although the format is different I think we’ll still take the same approach. We’ve had some high strike rates from the batters and low economy rates from bowlers and we’ve fielded really well so we’ll just look to transfer those skills into t20 cricket.”
See The Girls in Action
The Girls start their season on Sunday 18 June at Edgbaston Foundation Sports Ground (B17 8LS) in s triple-header against Surrey and Somerset. Entry is FREE for all and there is a section of refreshments on site. The first game is a 10.30am start and see’s Birmingham Bears Women take on Somerset Women.
