Miranda"s Verinmeier century maakt weg vrij naar Lionesse"s Division 3 titel....

After Helmien Rambaldo won the toss and elected to bat, Veringmeier shared an opening stand of 168 with Denise Hannema, who made 69 from 77 balls, the highest partnership for the first wicket ever posted for the national side.

And after the openers departed Kerry Anne Tomlinson piled on the agony for the Devon bowlers, smashing an undefeated, 44-ball 77, including five fours and five sixes. Rambaldo contributed 29 and Esther Lanser 32 (off 21 deliveries) to see the Orange Lionesses to the second-highest total in their history.

It was a target which always seemed likely to be beyond the home side, and although they began their chase brightly, Tomlinson made the first breakthrough when she trapped Amara Carr in front with 37 on the board.

Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, Tomlinson picking up three for 41 in her ten overs to complete a fine all-round performance.

All five of the remaining Dutch bowlers claimed one apiece as Devon battled their way to 176 for eight off 44 overs before rain brought proceedings to a premature close. Since the Duckworth/Lewis system is not used in this competition, the Dutch average run rate of 6.92 meant that the final winning margin was 128.

The victory completed three extremely successful years in the County Championship for the Orange Lionesses, which have seen them progress from Division 5 to Division 2, losing just one match in the process. This season they have won five out of five, which will give them plenty of confidence when they take on the likes of Nottinghamshire, Essex, Warwickshire and Surrey next season.

Before that, of course, they face the Women’s World Cup qualifier in Bangladesh in November, where their opponents in the group phase will be South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and the United States. A strong performance there will be vital if they are to retain their full ODI status for another four years.

bron: cricketeurope (Rod Lyall)