Bishop’s Stortford under-19 girls narrowly miss out on being crowned national champions in ECB Club T20 competition

Bishop’s Stortford under-19 girls narrowly missed out on being crowned national champions in the ECB Club T20 competition.

The side succumbed by just five runs against Porthill Park in the final at Kibworth Cricket Club in Leicestershire.

Stortford had reached finals day after taking the east region honours and were drawn against Lancashire-based Leyland in the semi-final.

Their opponents won the toss and chose to bat, but Stortford restricted them to 140-5 off their 20 overs with key bowling contributions coming from Bella Johnson (1-14) and Hillary Howson (2-28).

Stortford lost early wickets before an unbeaten 45-run partnership between opener Bella Howarth, who carried her bat for 68, and Lottie Hobson (11) ensured they reached 121-3 when chasing a rain-reduced target.

Stortford opted to bowl against Staffordshire’s Porthill Park in the final after winning the toss and made a good start, limiting their opponents to 60-1 after 10 overs.

But their bowling became a little wayward after that and Porthill finished on 119-6 from their rain-reduced allocation of 18 overs. Mabel Reid took 2-24 and Howson got 1-20.

Howath (24) and fellow opener Hollie Dring-Richardson (26) gave Stortford a good platform in their reply as they reached 61-2 after 10 overs.

But they suffered a collapse as they lost six wickets for 24 runs and ultimately came up just short on 114-8 having required eight off the final over.