Week 2 of the Women's County Championship

Another Bank Holiday another double-header for many of the teams in Div One and Div Two of the Women's County Championship.

Division One

Sunday 25th May
Berkshire v Sussex at Wokingham CC
Essex v Surrey at Felsted School
Kent v Warwickshire at Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence
Yorkshire v Middlesex at Harrogate CC

Monday 26th May
Berkshire v Surrey at Wokingham CC
Kent v Essex at Hayes CC
Notts v Sussex at Welbeck CC
Warwickshire v Middlesex at Wellesbourne CC

The three double-winning teams from the first weekend of fixtures all have two more games this week (which will mean they are halfway through their fixtures).
Surrey take on Essex and Berkshire away - they will be looking to get full points from the Essex game, but Berkshire will be a tougher nut to crack on Monday. They too are unbeaten, although they only just squeaked past Notts by 1 run in their only game of the opening weekend.
Kent host Warwickshire and Essex and will be confident that they can beat both, as Sussex did last weekend. Some of the young Warwickshire players will be keen to impress in front of the England skipper, but the Kent batting line-up looks very strong. Also Laura Marsh is now twirling her arm again.
Sussex travel away to Berkshire and Notts and will hope to keep up their 100% record. Berkshire will find it tough to score runs against the Sussex attack, and Notts came back from their agonising defeat to Berkshire by thrashing Essex. New girl Amy Gauvrit took 10 wickets last week for Notts. Can she keep up that wicket-taking record in their only game of the weekend?
Middlesex are the other team who play both days against Yorkshire and Warwickshire, both away. They had a decent start to their season against Kent, going down by just 34 runs. Yorkshire and Warwickshire are both 0/2 and will be keen to get their seasons underway. Both games are likely to be tight.

Division Two
 
Sunday 25th May
Cheshire v Ireland at Alvanley CC
Staffordshire v Durham at Bloxwich CC
Wales v Devon at Pontarddulais CC
Worcestershire v Lancashire at Coombs Wood CC

Monday 26th May
Somerset v Devon at the County Ground Taunton
Durham v Lancashire at Durham City CC
Staffordshire v Ireland at Alrewas CC
Wales v Worcestershire at Pontarddulais CC

Lancashire will go into the second weekend of fixtures full of confidence after two comprehensive wins in Week 1 against Somerset and Ireland. Their opponents this weekend are Worcestershire and Durham. Durham lost both their opening games, while Worcestershire beat Cheshire, but lost to Somerset. Lancs are likely to prove too strong for both.
This could be a big weekend for Devon and their title chances. They take on Wales, who won their only game of the opening weekend against Durham, and last year's play-off winners Somerset. Devon started their season with a resounding victory over Staffordshire and look like they just might be the team to challenge Lancs for the top spot, but they will need to win both these games.
Ireland did not make the start they would have liked losing to Lancs and then just squeezing past Durham by 6 runs in a low-scorer. Runs seem to be their biggest issue, but they should be favourites against both Cheshire (1/2) and Staffs (0/2).
At the bottom of the league the game between Staffs and Durham could prove to be pivotal to both county's seasons. Both are looking for their first win and both will be targeting this game as a good opportunity to clinch a possibly vital extra 10 points.

If you live close by get out and support your local girls.

MD
21/V/14