Thea Brookes impresses with both ball and bat as Surrey fall to a 43-run defeat to Kent in the London Championship at Chipstead CC
Brookes scored 36 with the bat and took 4/26 with the ball in defeat for Surrey.
Surrey captain Amy Gordon won the toss and elected to bowl. A rain shower after 2.2 overs with Kent 14/0 forced the players off the pitch.
After the delay, seam bowler Priyanaz Chatterji took two quick wickets to leave Kent 25/2 from seven overs. From there, Surrey took wickets at regular intervals to keep the Kent batters within their grasp. Claudie Cooper – who has recently been signed by the Oval Invincibles in The Hundred, kept things tight as she conceded 34 runs with one wicket from her 10 overs.
Thea Brookes impressed once again as she took 4/26 from 7.5 overs, with captain Amy Gordon taking late wickets to dismiss the tail. The skipper finished with figures of 3/35 from her seven overs.
Surrey’s pursuit of 181 got off to a shaky start as Charlotte Stubbs and Hannah Burridge departed early leaving Surrey 15/2. Laxmi Johal and Thea Brookes set about a rebuilding mission for the Three Feathers as the pair put on 39 before Johal departed for 24.
The experienced Brookes lost another partner in Alex Travers for 9 with the score 79, 102 runs short of the target. Brookes was next to depart for 36 with the score on 83/5, leaving the Surrey lower middle-order and bowlers with an uphill task.
Captain Amy Gordon was the sixth victim to fall as she was stumped with the score on 98. Kent took the last four wickets for 39 runs to give them victory by 43 runs.
