Herefordshire’s Women Beat Shropshire In Fine Style Whilst The Men's Team Face An Uphill Battle

15 Jun 2026   |   By Richard Prime

Herefordshire’s Women began their day in fine style with a win over previously unbeaten Vitality Blast Women's League 3 - Division 2B leaders Shropshire at Colwall.

Lucy Barnett (38), Charlie Botwright (32), Simran Chandi (26 not out) and Georgie Williams (21) all batted well to set up Herefordshire’s score of 125-3.

Then, after Anya Peddareddy (2-15) made early inroads into the Shropshire reply, spinners Barnett (2-15) and Florrie McKenna (1-16) contained the middle-order before Williams, leading Herefordshire for the first time, destroyed the lower order with an impressive spell of 4-17.

Shropshire gained a measure of revenge in the second match as, despite wickets for Peddareddy (2-26) and Barnett (1-28), they piled up 158-3.

Only Botwright (43) and Barnett (15) were able to reach double figures in response as Herefordshire were restricted to 97-8 and went down to a 61-run defeat.

Herefordshire's men face an uphill battle to qualify for the NCCA T20 Super12s for a third straight season after suffering a twin defeat in their double header against Devon at Blundell’s School.

In both games, Herefordshire batted first and set a total which was perhaps 20 short of par, enabling Devon to chase down the target to win by five and four wickets respectively.

In the first match, after being put in, Herefordshire started well with Ollie Cox (17) forcing the pace.

But wickets fell steadily and although Callum Bennett (13), Luke Powell (21), Ryan Tratell (13) and Roshan Venkataraman (17) all got a start, no-one was able to go on to play a major innings with Herefordshire finishing on 123-9.

The visitors’ hopes were raised when James Rudge (1-14) took a wicket in the first over of the Devon reply.

But, with Ben Privett (53) playing solidly, the hosts reached their target with two overs to spare despite further wickets for George Rhodes (1-19), Ciaran Baker-Smith (1-21), Hasan Mahmood (1-22) and Venkataraman (1-33).

A third-wicket stand of 77 between Rhodes and Bennett, who both made 46, was the central feature of Herefordshire’s innings in the second match.

With Cox (15), Mahmood (11) and then skipper Luke Tulacz (23 not out) adding useful runs, Herefordshire’s 151-6 looked more promising.

But three of Devon’s front four passed 30 as they maintained the required rate to ease in with four balls to spare.

Rhodes (2-21), Mahmood (1-22), Baker-Smith (1-25), Rudge (1-26) and Venkataraman (1-28) shared the wickets.

CAPTION: Luke Powell top-scored for Herefordshire in their defeat in the first match against Devon.