By Martin Saxon

After another closely fought season, Didsbury emerged as champions of the Cheshire Women’s Cricket League for the first time since 2019. The South Manchester club achieved the feat despite having only one of the 15 highest run scorers in division one, which was their captain Roshini Prince-Navaratnam, who was also the league’s leading all-rounder this year. Instead, much of their success was due in no small part to their bowling attack – besides Prince-Navaratnam, Hannah Jones, Hannah Marshall and Zara Matthews all had fine seasons.

2022 champions Leigh had to make do with second place, despite more runs from Rachael Walsh and the bowling efforts of Kasey Bentham and Sophie Heaton. They beat Didsbury by bowling them out cheaply in the first encounter between the teams, but Didsbury reversed this in a thrilling last-ball finish in the second match. Had that match gone the other way, or finished as a tie, Leigh would now be celebrating retaining the title.

Nantwich and Stockport Georgians finished third and fourth respectively in the first division, and for both clubs, this represented their highest ever finishes. Georgians had the highest run scorer in their Australian wicketkeeper Heidi Cheadle.

Upton finished in eighth and last place in the top-flight, finding the going difficult after their promotion from division two. They recorded just one league win and are set to return to the second division next year, despite having the league’s leading wicket taker, Lily Scudder.

After missing out on promotion last year by a single point, Lindow made no mistake this year by winning division two with a 100 per cent record. As well as celebrating their arrival in the top-flight, Lindow broke new ground for the league this year by becoming the first Cheshire League club to reach the semi-finals of the Women’s National T20 Knockout.

The only other divisional winners to end with a perfect record were Buxton in Division 3 East, Runcorn in Division 5 Mid Cheshire and Aston in Division 5 South.

One of the league’s most noticeable features is just how unpredictable and competitive it remains. Only one club has retained the first division title since 2012, while no club has accomplished the treble since 2013. That said, Didsbury came extremely close this year, winning the T20 Divisional Competition to add to their League Championship success, but losing by one run to Nantwich in the Senior Knockout final.

TROPHY WINNERS

	WINNERS	RUNNERS-UP
Division 1	Didsbury	Leigh
Division 2	Lindow	Hawarden Park
Division 3 West	Porthill Park Northern Stars	Nantwich 2nd XI
Division 3 East	Buxton	Didsbury 2nd XI
Division 4 West	Alvanley	Oakmere 2nd XI
Division 4 East	Langley	North East Cheshire
Division 5 West	Irby	Old Parkonians
Division 5 East	Cheadle Hulme Ladybridge	Bredbury St Mark’s
Division 5 Mid Cheshire	Runcorn	Grappenhall
Division 5 South	Aston	Elworth
T20 Divisional Competition	Didsbury Swordettes	Chester Boughton Hall Deemons
Senior Knockout Cup	Nantwich Vipers	Didsbury Swordettes
Development Knockout Cup	Chester Boughton Hall 2nd XI	Nantwich 2nd XI
Softball Knockout Cup	Neston	Grappenhall