Preview: Essex Women vs Warwickshire Women, Metro Bank One Day Cup

Bears Women Head Coach Ali Maiden said he’s proud of his players after they claimed a dramatic draw in their first game at Edgbaston – and said he’s happy for them to take risks in pursuit of wins as the season unfolds.

Captain Georgia Davis and Hannah Baker secured a share of the points against Hampshire Women on Wednesday, battling back from 189/9 before a last-ball runout saw the sides finish level on 208 all out. 

Maiden said emotions were high after the game, but once the dust settled, he urged his side to reflect on a hard-won point and some impressive performances on debut.

“They reacted like they’d won it, and we reacted like we’d lost it,” said Maiden, “but ultimately it was a tie. I needed to make sure the girls aren’t too down about not being able to get over the line because it was a terrific effort.

“Both teams could have won the game at various points. We were pretty happy with how we went about things, some areas we could have done better. It was a classic early-season game, both sides made mistakes, neither really grasped the game.

“I’m happy with a lot of what we did. Our running between the wickets has been a big focus; we were very good at that, and there was some brilliant stuff in the field, lots of energy and working for each other, plus that fantastic direct-hit run out from Dav (Davina Perrin). 

“Katie George opening the bowling with Em Arlott up front looked dangerous, Hannah Baker’s spell of leg spin was fantastic, Abbey’s 70 was a great start, and her partnership with Sterre (Kalis) looks very promising. 

“White ball cricket comes with risk, whether that’s hitting a ball for six or taking quick singles. I don’t want us to go into our shells. We have to be willing to take some risks in order to win games.”

Bears Women travel to Chelmsford on Sunday to take on an Essex side that suffered a nine-wicket defeat at Durham inside 33 overs on the opening day.

Fast bowler Issy Wong is available again, having been rested for the Hampshire visit on workload management advice from the ECB. This means Maiden will take a 14-strong squad with no new injury concerns from the opening Metro Bank One Day Cup clash.

“There are things we know we can do to improve, and we’ve been working on those since Wednesday,” added Maiden. 

“We got off to a brilliant start in our run chase at Edgbaston, but then we let them bowl at us a bit, especially their spin of Linsey Smith and Georgia Adams. We got into a position where we were a bit negative against them, then the run rate creeps up, and if you lose wickets, everyone feels more pressure. 

“So we’ve spoken about being positive, as we could have taken more control in that period. 

“We also conceded far too many extras (43). You don’t win many games if you give away that many uncontested runs. We bowled a lot of wides, it’s understandable early in the season, and the ball was moving a bit in the conditions, swinging more than we anticipated. 

“So, yes we have work to do, overall I was very pleased with large parts of what we did.”