The North East Warriors Under-18 qualified to the semi-finals of the Royal London U18 Girls’ County Cup and will face Essex in the pursuit of a place to the final.
The Under-18 squad claimed a nine-wicket victory at Seat Unique Riverside last week against Worcestershire to go through to this stage of the competition and now look ahead to the semi-finals hosted at Grantham CC tomorrow (24 August).
The Durham and Northumberland representatives remained unbeaten in the one-day format in their group and face an opposition with the same winning record.
Essex played Sussex in the quarter-finals where with convincing bowling attack the semi-finalists bowled the opposition out in 29.1 over to claim a five-wicket win in just 23 overs.
In their quarter-final, the Warriors restricted Worcestershire to 127 in 40 overs and batted their way to the win in 24.1 overs.
Ciara Boaden, who also holds the highest batting total in Group 1, scored an unbeaten 61, including eight boundaries.
Trudy Johnson was exceptional with bat and ball, taking two wickets (2-25) to dismiss Worcestershire’s opening batter Olivia Gough and captain later in the first innings Ellie Anderson. Johnson backed it up with a strong performance at the crease, hitting 44 to help the Warriors reach the target.
Head Of Female Talent Pathway at Durham Cricket and Head Coach of the team Rachel Hopkins said: “The girls have done exceptionally well to get to this point and we’re all looking forward to the challenge of the semi-final.
“It’s now just a case of backing our skills and coming up with a good all-round performance.
“If we turn up and play with the attitude and application like we have all season, then I’m confident the girls will come away with what they deserve.”
Head Coach and Regional Talent Manager at Northern Diamonds Tom Cant added: “This side has been a settled squad for two seasons and they’ve all bought into the season what we have asked from them.
“The performances through the north group and the quarter-final against Worcestershire were fantastic.
“Finals are all about who holds their nerve and performs on the day. It’ll be great to see the girls in this environment and they are ready to go!
“It would be great for the girls and the North East to win it, more importantly we’ve told the girls to enjoy the two days on and off the field.
“Staying in hotels, preparing well and recovery is an important part of being a professional cricketer so it’s great for the girls to experience that this week.”
The quarter-final takes place at Grantham CC from 10.30am.