The KFC festival of cricket kicked off for the women with a win for the South East senior team against Hamilton District Cricket Association.
The two sides met at Frew Park last month, with the South East side sent into bat first after losing the toss.
The innings did not start well for the South East after losing both openers Liz Plew and Angella Donnelly for one and a duck in the first two overs as Hamilton asserted dominance on the game with 2/8.
With Laura Chester and Chelsea Gabriel at the crease, the South East required a strong partnership between the two in order to get back into the game, while Hamilton looked to continue the quick fall of wickets.
The partnership was able to stabilise the innings, adding 16 runs to the score, but Hamilton fought back when Gabriel was bowled for four.
Hamilton looked to be in the driving seat with South East three down for just 24 runs.
Kathryn Vine joined Chester at the crease and together they took the game away from Hamilton.
They combined for a massive 91 run partnership that was only able to be broken when Hamilton dismissed Chester for 71.
South East remained comfortable at 4/115 with 18 overs gone.
Hopes that breaking the long partnership would lead to wickets in quick succession was soon lost for Hamilton as they struggled to find another wicket for the final 12 overs.
Vine again combined for a big partnership, this time putting on 50 with captain Fiona Young.
Vine was not able to see out the innings though as she was dismissed second to last ball of the South East batting innings.
Vine headed to the pavilion with 38 to her name, while Young remained not out for 26.
South East ended its innings 5/165, which ultimately was a total too high for Hamilton.
Hamilton’s innings started in a similar way to the South East’s with the first wicket coming in only the second over, with Chester continuing her brilliant game bowling the Hamilton opener for just one.
The third over left Hamilton 2/3 when Anna McGregor was able to dismiss the Hamilton number three for a duck.
South East had a stronghold on the game, but Hamilton fought back forming a nice partnership that would add 42 to the total before Lauren Smart caught the Hamilton captain LBW for 10.
Once again Hamilton developed a strong partnership, but again South East was able to find the breakthrough before Hamilton could take the game away from them.
Chester found the breakthrough of Drendal who was three away from a half century.
Hamilton was only able to add one run to its total before South East found another breakthrough, with Chester picking up her third wicket for the day to go nicely with her 71 with the bat.
Hamilton found itself now in real trouble at 5/77, still requiring 89 runs for victory.
Things did not improve for Hamilton as wickets continued to tumble with Sharna Mansell and Alysha Coon taking a wicket each.
Going into the last over the run chase was out of reach for Hamilton and McGregor finished the side off taking two wickets in the last over.
The score set for Hamilton by South East proved to be too much, finishing the innings 9/122, falling 45 runs short of the total posted by South East.
