worcestershire women’s rapids moved out of the bottom two of division two of the ecb county championship after collecting six bonus points against essex in a rain-affected match at New Road.
the rapids went down by 55 runs in their final group fixture in the 50 over competition but three batting and three bowling points moved them five points clear of somerset.
somerset’s final match against devon at taunton, which was cancelled yesterday, has been rescheduled for july 14.
bottom placed durham could have overtaken worcestershire but they went down to cricket wales.
the rapids were without captain georgie adcock (work commitments) but vice-captain chloe hill stepped into the role and top-scored with an unbeaten 48.
her efforts followed on from flora bertwhistle picking up four wickets.
worcestershire put essex into bat and a rain meant only 11.4 overs were possible before a lengthy break incorporating an earlier lunch.
essex were 60-3 at that stage with emily arlott, clare boycott and sarah glenn each picking up a wicket.
when the players returned, the match had been reduced to 43 overs per side and bertwhistle immediately made a breakthrough in dismissing mady villiers (26).
she picked up wickets at regular intervals and helped restrict essex to 120-7 before ending her spell with figures of 9-0-28-4.
but then catherine dalton (70) and grace poole (33 not out) added 60 before the former was caught at cover off glenn.
essex closed on 197-8 with glenn (9-1-34-2), arlott (9-1-44-1) and boycott (5-0-28-1) the other wicket-takers.
when worcestershire batted, chasing a revised duckworth-lewis total of 194, they lost early wickets and were 50-5 at one stage but hill steadied the ship in impressive style.
she figured in useful little partnerships with ellie anderson, arlott and bertwhistle to steer the rapids to a final total of 138-7.
hill’s fine 75 ball knock contained eight boundaries.
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ecb county championship
bottom three
rapids played 7 – points 53
somerset played 6 – points 48
durham played 7 – points 46
