The New World Ilam Premier Women’s side were successful in their quest to win their first ever EV Power Premier Women’s T20 title against Lancaster Park CC. The match had been postponed from December 2025 with the new date, Sunday 8th March, also allowing the match to be played at Hagley Oval under lights. The date also coincided with International Women’s day.
The weather during the day was hot, about 28 degrees however the forecast southerly arrived around 5.30pm and made for a chilly match with temperatures dropping to 15 degrees and a freezing cold wind. That didn’t dampen the spirits of the supporters from both sides who packed the banks to watch the match.
LPCC won the toss and invited North-West to bat first on what look like a hard deck with an immaculate outfield. Kelly Hodder and Hannah Ryan (returning to duty from Wellington) got underway with 24 run partnership before Hannah was out stumped off the bowling of Sarah Asmussen. Sarah was the pick of the LPCC bowlers with 4/22 off her 4 overs. Kelly Hodder was out a short time later and a good partnership formed between captain Eloise Borcoski and Kate Irwin until Eloise was out for 15. Kate Irwin fought hard for our top score of 41 (40) including 4 boundaries. Tight bowling from LPCC created wickets and a bit of flourish at the end and we finished with 118 for 8 wickets off our 20 overs, fewer than we would have wanted, however runs were on the board.
Lancaster Park got off to a flying start with Kate Anderson and Sophie Kelly bringing up 60 runs in quick time. Kate has been on top form especially in club cricket and when a chance went down early it could have provided the opportunity she needed for a match winning score.
The North-West side did not let their heads drop and stuck to their task well having faith in the bowling plans in place and trusting in the process. Some very tight bowling created the breakthrough with Hannah Wallace trapping Kate Anderson LBW for 28. Three balls later Sophie Kelly was out bowled by Sammy Borcoski. Sammy’s spell of bowling 3/12 off her 4 overs combined well with Gail Hotton and Libby Stead making runs hard to get and wickets began to fall. When Sammy finished her first over the score was 2/64 after 10 overs and fell to 6/81 after the 16th over.
Needing 9.5 runs per over for the last 4 overs with 4 wickets in hand was a tricky proposition under the lights at Hagley even with the experienced Laura Hughes at the crease. Our bowlers stuck to the task at hand bowling line and length and picking up a wickets in each of the remaining overs. A run out off the last ball of the match had LPCC bowled out for 102, a 16 run win to North-West!
Umpires Brett Littmoden and Kaushik Padmanaban were asked to select a Player of the Match and this was awarded to Sammy Borcoski. Both teams captains spoke at the presentation and Mike Harvey (CMCA General Manager) presented the trophy to Eloise Borcoski, NWWC Captain.
Everyone at North-West and Burnside Cricket was thrilled by the success and congratulations to all the senior players who supported the club through this and previous seasons and were either there on the night or watching on the livestream.
Congratulations to Darron Stackhouse, Garfield Charles, Nick Gibb, Michael Walding, Meg Moffatt, Addison Stackhouse and Helen Hodder and everyone of the coaches and support crew for all their time and commitment. It was especially satisfying the groups of players and parents who formed the club from 2017 to see our first T20 title.
Celebrations where held afterwards and a few players were able to stay up to watch the other T20 match between the Blackcaps and India in the early hours for the morning.
Thank you to the support of our sponsors
- New World Ilam
- Cricket Express
- Smart Sparks
- Robbies Riccarton
Youtube: https://youtube.com/live/K4NJlO7Gkps
Photos Addison Stackhouse A.S. Photography.
North-West Women's Cricket 