Women’s Cricket takes centre stage tomorrow at Karen Rolton Oval and Park 25 as the Southern Districts Stingrays chase Twenty20 premiership glory with both the first and second grade sides in grand final action. The first grade will take on Kensington at Karen Rolton Oval while the second grade will face Glenelg at Park 25 (Oval 2). Both games start at 10.30am.

The Stingrays first grade will be in for a tough encounter against perennial powerhouse Kensington who have won four of the past five Twenty20 premierships. During the minor round Kensington won both encounters, by 72 runs in round two and then by just 16 runs in round seven. The Stingrays will look to the competition’s leading wicket taker, leg-spinner Kelly Armstrong, to restrict a powerful Kensington batting line-up. Armstrong has taken the most wickets in the competition with 15 and has gone at just 4.04 runs per over. Playing-coach, Hannah Sampson, has also been very miserly with the ball taking seven wickets this season with an economy rate of just 3.69 runs per over. Kensington has great depth in their bowling stocks with Shae Daly, Eliza Doddridge, Sarah Lowe and Katelyn Pope combining for 37 wickets in the minor round. The Stingrays have some real firepower with the bat with 16 year old Ella Wilson and Kylie Rattray. Wilson has a strike rate of 112.9 and Rattray 109.4, two of the highest strike rates in the competition. Kensington also have some damaging batters including Doddridge (198 runs) and Lowe (145 runs) who both sit inside the top five run scorers for 2019/20. It should be a cracking contest between two very even teams.

Southern Districts’ second grade have had a fantastic Twenty20 campaign, completing the minor round undefeated. They will face off against Glenelg who they defeated by five wickets back in mid-October. Both sides have strong bowling with two bowlers each inside the top five wicket takers in the competition. Lucy Bowering (nine wickets) and Mikayla Mark (seven) lead the way for Glenelg while Keely Stone and Alecia Holt both have eight wickets for Southern Districts. Holt’s eight wickets have come at the incredible average of just 4.25 while conceding a miserly 1.70 runs per over! Glenelg may have a slight edge in batting with Nicole Adams leading the competition with 168 runs at a strike rate of over 100. It shapes as a very close contest.

“Our strength is in our squad depth and the group has worked hard in the pre-season and played some good, consistent cricket throughout both Twenty20 competitions,” said Stingrays playing-coach Hannah Sampson. “Both teams deserve the opportunity to compete for the first and second grade Twenty20 titles. Whatever happens tomorrow, I’m extremely proud of the playing group.”

It’s a great opportunity to watch some quality Cricket so get along to Karen Rolton Oval and Park 25 tomorrow from 10.30am!