Tammy Beaumont - Southern player 2014-15!

England's Women's Player of the Summer Tammy Beaumont says she was thinking of leaving cricket a year ago.

The 25-year-old, who had spent nearly two years out of the side, scored 342 runs in three one-day internationals against Pakistan in June.

"I was making sure I had other options away from cricket in case I didn't get another contract," she told BBC Sport.

"I was getting stuck at the 'I need another job' part. It usually starts with a gap year."

Beaumont, named as player of the summer at Wednesday's Professional Cricketers' Association awards, was first recalled to England's Twenty20 side as Charlotte Edwards' opening partner for their tour of South Africa in February and the subsequent World Twenty20.

She then returned to the ODI team this summer, opening with Lauren Winfield, after Edwards was relieved of the captaincy and subsequently retired from internationals.

A Grade Grand Final

The weekend saw the club enter just its second Premier Cricket A Grade finals series with a semi final against Sturt at Sturt. 

After winning the toss and batting the stingrays got off to a flyer with Nick Bowen and Josh Barrett putting on 98 for the first wicket. The fall of 3/0 put the game back in the balance, however a settling partnership between Justin Ifould and Dave Sboro steadied the ship. Another loss of 3/0 had the game delicately poised at tea with the score 7/163.

After tea, coach Andrew Staunton and skipper Shaun Tanner set about setting as big a score as they could. As the day one crowd started to ramp things up anyone could have been mistaken for thinking this was a stingrays home game.            

The Staunton and Tanner partnership was 92 runs and in the blink of an eye the stingrays had taken the day one honours finishing 9/278. 

Day two was always going to be a matter of taking ten wickets in order to secure a Grand Final berth. Sturt looked to play Cautiously and this brought Huw Stone into the match taking the only 2 wickets in the first session to leave the home side 2/60 at lunch. 

It was the second session which was to be the major factor in the match with Tom Joraslafsky ripping through the middle order to claim 5 wickets. One of which saw a stunning first slip catch from Dave Sboro which sent the crowd into a frenzy. The win came just after tea to the delight of an even bigger crowd than the previous day. The song could be heard streets away as the stingrays booked a place in the Grand Final. 

This weeks match is against Tea Tree Gully at Woodville oval. The more support we can get to the match the better. We hope to see you there. 

 

Pink Quiz Night

On behalf of the club and the social committee I would like to thank everyone who attended the pink quiz night on the weekend. The response to the event was phenomenal and to have more than 150 people attend was more than we anticipated or hoped. We will be back again with this event next year and will look to improve the way it runs.

We will have an idea of the money we raised for both the club and the Jane McGrath Foundation over the next week.

T Mac part of GGs X1

You know who at work!

The :Pres at work in Port Elliott!!!

The Weekend saw Saturday/Sunday fixtures for the A and B Grade while the C's and D's had a one day match all against Glenelg.

The A grade won the toss and decided to bat first and that was as good as the day got. Early wickets leaving the Stingrays reeling at 6/70 at lunch. The total ended up at 119 and this was never going to be enough as the match was lost on day one. Sunday saw a slightly better batting display but too many multiple wickets saw the score end at 205. Josh Barrett the best with the bat scoring a quick half century. Glenelg needed 134 for the outright win but some early wickets and with the score at 6/60 the tables had turned and we were in with a sniff of outright points but that would be as close as it got. Just the second loss of the year for the A Grade and hopefully bounce back this week against top of the table Tea Tree Gully.

The B Grade put on a great display and were led with bat and ball by Matthew "The Package" Sugg. Batting first the B Grade made 6/341. With Suggy making a magnificent 157 including 23 boundaries. He was well supported by skipper Justin Ifold who made 80. With the ball it was again Suggy doing the damage as Glenelg were bowled out for 256. Suggy taking 4/50 from 22 overs rounding out a man of the match display. Dean Miller also vital with 4/42 from 18 overs. An important win for the B Grade and now leaves them 3rd on the ladder.

The C Grade couldn't get the runs on the board in their one day match. Only scoring 120 with Blake Trigg ending 40 not out. They pushed Glenelg all the way but had them 7 wickets down when they passed the total. Jarryd McCormack with 3/31 from 8 and Corey McIvor with 2/27 from 10.

The D Grade went down in a low scoring thriller at the High School. Chasing 110 they fell 2 runs short in a game where batsmen found it very tough to score. Chris Gent almost found a way to win it making 33 at number 9.

Training and selection tonight so make sure we get along and work hard ahead of important matches this weekend.