The Northern lights were crowned Womens T20 Cup champions at Scroggie Park Falkland in their inaugural season as a team after a clinical semi-final defeat of West of Scotland Women followed by an excellent chase against a strong Stewart Melville Royal High Womens team.

Semi-Final Northern Lights v West of Scotland Women at Freuchie Park.

West of Scotland Women won the toss and elected to bat first and the Northern Light opening bowlers Becky Glenn and Abbie Hogg were quickly into their stride taking a wicket each to remove both WoSW openers, Becky followed up with another wicket in her 3rd over and with Abbie bowling 2 maidens WoSW were 6 for 3 after 5 overs.

A brief respite allowed WoSW to progress to 14 before a run out by Kirsty McColl brought the 4th wicket the innings started to progress before an excellent catch by Becky Glenn off the bowling of Emma Halliwell reduced WoSW to 22/5 in the 10th over.

Deethya Balamurali came into the attack and proceeded to pick up 3 wickets for 6 runs in her 3.3 overs of leg spin with Ruth and Rachel McKay picking up a wicket a piece WoSW were all out for 33 in the 17th over.

The NL innings progressed steadily before losing Abbie Hogg to a run out with the score on 10 an excellent caught and bowled removed Rachel McKay on 13 only for her sister Ruth to follow on 16 with the innings rebuilding with Kirsty McColl and Zoe Bailey the removal of both with the score at 24 and 25 respectively left NL at 5 down in the 7th over and in the need of steady nerves to get them over the line. Captain Megan McColl and Emma Halliwell saw the team home in the 10th over and they progressed to the final.

Final Northern Lights v Stewart Melville Royal High Women at Scroggie Park Falkland.

Facing the strong SMRHW the NL lost the toss and were asked to field first in the final, H Short and CS Holland got SMRHW off to a strong start with Short regularly finding the boundary racing to 44/0 off 5 overs. With Short continuing to attack the bowlers moving comfortably to 50 the introduction of Kirsty McColl in the 8th over brought the breakthrough dismissing Holland.

With ME Paton joining Short they continued to score at a health rate before Abbie Hogg returned to the attack and remove Short lbw for a well made 67 in 47 balls leaving SMRHW at 104/2 in the 15th over. With SMRHW well placed K McGill joining Paton and they continued to push on NL battled back and Becky Glen dismissed Paton for 33 caught by Megan McColl in the deep.

The return of the McColl sisters to the attack brought about a flurry of wickets with Megan bowling LL Forester Smith then Kirsty taking the wickets of McGill and E Wilkie in two balls to finish with 3 for 20 and a run out off the last ball closed the SMRHW innings at 133/7.

Chasing a challenging total the NL innings got off to a strong start at 62/0 from 5 overs with Becky Glenn playing strong shots around the ground and Ailsa Lister continuing her excellent form before being bowled by K McGill for a well made 25 from 15 balls leaving NL at 78/1.

Captain Megan McColl joined Becky at the crease and the pair moved the score to 92 before McGill induced Becky into a caught and bowled and she departed for 48 from 33 balls. Abbie Hogg joined Megan and batting steadily they progressed the total to 127 before Megan fell to E Wilkie for 18, Emma Halliwell hit the winning runs on her home ground to take NL to 135/3 in the 15th over.

A big thank you goes to team sponsor Cala Homes for their support that allowed the players from clubs across the north to come together with the aim of showcasing the great work being done in the area to progress the Women and girls game, the cup win is a fitting tribute to the effort the players have made in gelling as a team and presenting their talents on the field.