GIRLS cricket in Herefordshire continues to go from strength to strength which was proven at a recent festival.

Over 50 girls from Herefordshire and Worcestershire enjoyed the sunshine at the annual Brockhampton Girls Cricket Festival.

The festival, named ‘Just hit it!’ aimed to encourage more girls into cricket by having fun with other likeminded girls. 

Teams from Burghill, Malvern St. James and Brockhampton, plus girls from Wormelow CC joined together for an afternoon of fun but competitive cricket.

The festival saw some excellent cricketing skills on display and it was Burghill’s young team, who were awarded ‘fielding team’ of the festival, with strong bowling and bravery in the field.

A closely contested final saw Brockhampton BabyBelles just beating last year’s winners Malvern St.James.

Brockhampton, the first club in Herefordshire to have an all girls team entered four teams with girls aged from nine to 14 years old taking part.

Brockhampton ladies captain Dannie McQueen and girls coach, Karen Bubb, looked on proudly as the future of girls and ladies' cricket at Brockhampton CC and around the county looked strong. 

Brockhampton women recently suffered a narrow defeat by just two wicket at J G Meakin CC.

Opening the batting top scores of 22 for Amy Maund and 28 for skipper McQueen helped their side to set a target of 100/9 off their 29 overs.

In reply the hosts were helped over the line by a knock of 42 from opener Ella Sharpe despite wickets consistently falling thanks to the bowling of Maund (3-23) and Jess Debenham (2-23).