Comfortable for England

Just before the toss was taken, Cecilia Joyce was ruled out with injury. Catriona Beggs, who made her debut against England, today won her 50th cap for her country - a proud moment in anyone's career. 'Irelands Call' was belted out for all to hear, and we were ready to take the game to England. And we did …

We attacked from the start and had England 4 for 79 off 25. This was down to some fantastic bowling by Babs (1 for 22 off 10), Headsy, Jillers (1 for 38 off 10) and Max. Lenny took two incredible catches behind - everywhere the inside edges were, so were Lenny's hands. She also took a great stumping off Mimms' bowling to see off Nicky Shaw. A good partnership between Clare Connor (82) and Arran Brindle (51) who ran well between the wickets, saw the game slip away from us. Not to be out done we broke the partnership and with a catch by Max and with a run out to follow, England ended on 221 for 6 off 50.

Back out into the scorching heat for our reply. Lenny was given out in the first over to a caught behind that was a tad dubious. Not a great start. However, Jillian Smythe, batting 3 in her second international, did well handing strike over to Beggsy who was striking the ball well and looking very comfortable. Unfortunately, she succumbed to an LBW for 16. Mimms came in at 4 and did a sterling job to settle the innings however Jill was then run-out. The only other performances of note were Shillers who smashed the ball about the place for 18 and Una who partnered her well for 11 before she was caught backward square. We finished on 94 for 8. Our batting had again let us down. But drawing on the positives, our bowling and fielding was tight and with each match we are getting better and better, gaining more and more experience.