A severely depleted Worcestershire Women’s Rapids side just missed out on completing a cup double as they went down by ten runs to Cricket Wales in the West Midlands Regional Cup final at Moseley.
Spinner Flora Bertwhistle returned career-best figures of 10-3-16-5 as Cricket Wales were bowled out for 143.
Milly Home, Clare Boycott and captain Chloe Hill all got into the 20s for Worcestershire, but the ECB T20 Cup Group Two holders were dismissed for 133 in 43.5 overs.
The Rapids were without five of the side who had defeated Cricket Wales by eight wickets in a group fixture the previous weekend due to call-ups for the Schools Games and unavailability.
Cricket Wales won the toss and reached 75-0, but then Bertwhistle picked up two wickets at that total, and she and Jess Humby (10-0-26-2) and Amy Maund (6.3-0-22-2) brought about a collapse.
Ten wickets went down for 68 runs as Cricket Wales were dismissed in 41.3 overs.
Home (29) and Boycott (28) put on 58 for the first wicket, and 26 from Hill lifted the Rapids total to 92-2.
But none of the other batters reached double figures as the Rapids fell just short of their target.
Hill said: “Really proud of the girls. Top of the group, what more could I ask? With finals day, there is a bit of pressure on everyone, and it is going to go either way.
“Flora Bertwhistle was fantastic and, having lost five senior players, three senior bowlers who haven’t bowled as much as they would have liked in the competition stepped up.
“It was a good experience for the youngsters who came into the side and great to see what the Pathway is producing at that age. It’s looking bright for the future.
“We have won 10 of the 12 T20 and 50 over games, the most consistent we have ever been as a team, so bring on next year.”
