The North West Dragons Women’s team hosted their franchise partners, Central Gauteng Lions Women, in the CSA Women’s Provincial One-Day competition at Witrand Oval on Saturday.

The home side gave debut starts to two 14-year-old girls, Tshegofatso Molefe and Nthabiseng Nini, who come from the CSA hub-development structures.

The home side won the toss and elected to field first. Central Gauteng Lions Women were restricted to 128-10 in 39.3 overs. The pick of the batters for the CGL Women’s team was Paballo Tshidi with 29 runs off 51 balls (6 fours). Nonkhululeko Thabethe (28), Robyn Searle (27) and Jenna Searle (16) also contributed with the bat towards the CGL Women’s total.

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NW Dragons Women’s bowling attack was led by Delmi Tucker (3-18 in 9 overs, 4 maidens), and she was supported by Alyssa Erxleben (2-36 in 10 overs), Tokelo Mosala (2-12 in 3 overs) and debutant Nthabiseng Nini (2-13 in 4 overs).

North West Dragon’s Women batting force of Tazmin Brits (79 off 76, scored 13 fours) and Tanya Cronje (44 runs off 79 balls, scored 5 fours) shared an opening-partnership 129 runs off 158 balls (scored 18 fours), which led the defending champions to a 10-wicket victory over CGL Women as they ended on 130 in 25.5 overs.

‘We are happy to have a good start in the league as a team and to be able to give two youngsters, Nthabiseng and Tshegofatso that come from the hub structures, an opportunity to play at this level and it showcases the healthy state of our Women’s and Girls cricket structures within the NW Province. This works well with our vision of producing players for the provincial age groups and senior team,’ commented NWC Women’s and U19 Girls coaching framework coach Francois van der Merwe.

‘I want to thank all the stakeholders involved from schools cricket, hubs and clubs in their efforts to improve our cricket.’

Photo: Gallo Images