Bartercard Taranaki Women’s first loss

The Bartercard New Zealand Taranaki women fell to their first loss of the season, going down to Wairarapa in a frustrating display, despite taking the game close in the end.

Playing at FDMC with Pukekura Park unavailable, and missing a number of players who had been away with the CD U19 team, Taranaki would have been disappointed to have made just 101/8 from their 40 overs.

Opener Jessie Hollard batted patiently to top score with 24, but found little support around her.

With a small total to defend, Taranaki were still able to apply some pressure before dropped catches cost them in the field. Elizabeth Cohr was dropped early and went on to play a key innings in the middle order making 24. Taranaki bowler Zoe Ellerton-Kelly made two late strikes to leave the game in the balance with Wairarapa 80/7, but another shelled chance and some good late order batting eventually saw Wairarapa home comfortably with 14 overs to spare.

The results sees Taranaki slip to third on the Mike Shrimpton Trophy points table. Their next matches are now after Christmas, with a key game against top-placed Manawatu for the Megan Washington Trophy in Feilding, before a double-header weekend against Hawkes Bay in New Plymouth and a season finale T20 match against Nelson in March.