Worcestershire Women’s Rapids captain Chloe Hill has paid tribute to all-rounder Clare Boycott, who has clocked up 200 games for the County in girls and women’s cricket.
Hill described Boycott as “Mrs Consistency” after she reached the splendid milestone in the first of two T20 games against Shropshire at Bromsgrove on Bank Holiday Monday.
She made her first appearance for Worcestershire in an Under-11s game against Wales and has been a key performer for many years; and also become part of the Central Sparks squad.
Hill said: “She didn’t tell any of us until we all saw it on social media! If she had told us, we could have done something a bit special for her.
“But what an achievement. I don’t think you’d have too many people currently at Worcestershire – men or women – who would have played 200 games.
“She has just been like ‘Mrs Consistency’ through every game I’ve played with her at Worcestershire since I started six or seven years ago.
“She’s always been on the money with everything, batting, bowling and fielding.
“Always reliable. If you need her, she’s always there to step up to open the batting, bat middle order, open the bowling, bowl anywhere.”
Hill was delighted with the double triumph over Shropshire, which ensured the Rapids topped Group in the ECB competition.
She said: “Two really good performances. We turned up at Bromsgrove, and the outfield was very wet, and we played on a fresh, green wicket.
“I was quite grateful we lost the toss and batted first in Game One. We got a good score, and that’s the been the common theme for us this season, getting 120 or above.
“Georgina (Macey) is in good form with the bat, and, once she gets going, she keeps going throughout the innings. She knows when to kick on and when to control the game.
“It was then quite fun myself and Emily Arlott batting together because we haven’t done it a lot even though we have played together so many years for Worcestershire and the Sparks.
“I thought we were in complete throughout with the ball. The bowlers were on top the whole time, and everyone stuck to their plans and kept it simple, which is what you need on a wicket like that.
“It was great to have Sarah Glenn back in the team. She wanted to have a bowl in the powerplay so we squeezed her in, and opened the bowling with her in the second game.
“The fielding as well backed up how good the bowling was.”
As regards Game Two, Hill said: “It was more difficult to score in the second game and, if we had batted second, it would have been a struggle.
“We had the better choice to bat first in that second game because, unfortunately, the wicket got worse even though it was a fresh strip.
“We had to work out what was a good score. It was tough to score or even rotate the strike, and Emily (Arlott) came in the back end and did really well.
“Ami Maund was then fantastic with the new ball and with three wickets in over. She stuck to her plans, bowled stump to stump, and got good shape with the ball.
“She stepped up really well, and it will give her a lot of confidence.
“Flora (Bertwhistle) and Charis (Pavely) also had great figures. Charis hasn’t been bowling due to an injury, so it was nice she was allowed to bowl in one game.”
