Emeralds’ resistance broken at Denby in ECB Women’s Club T20

On Sunday, 3 August 2025, Sessay CC Emeralds 1st XI travelled to Denby CC to face Copdock & Old Ipswichian CC Ladies 1st XI in the ECB Women’s Club Cup T20 semi-final. Report and match photos by Mark Doherty.

There was so much happening on Sunday; one of those days when, as a cricket lover, you could easily get overwhelmed by all the finals, league games, and cricket festivals taking place.

With my Sundays reserved to cover women and girls’ cricket…I had the immediate advantage of discounting a lot of the games, including the Theakston Nidderdale cup finals taking place at Ripley Cricket Club, only a stone’s throw from where I live (Although I always thoroughly enjoy the day covering the two or three games taking place).

As usual, I had a shortlist of women’s games to consider covering…but there was a late entry onto that list…when Charlotte Pipes commented on one of our social media posts, pointing out that Sessay were in the semi-finals of the ECB Women’s Club T20 Cup.

Intrigued, I wandered through Play-Cricket to work out the logistics of going to watch the game.

First thing I noticed was that it was a 3pm kick-off…rather late and probably indicating that there was another game beforehand? Secondly, the semi-final was being held at Denby Cricket Club, in Derbyshire…lucky I had dusted off my passport for the Barnoldswick anniversary game the previous week, braving the bad lands of Lancashire for a few hours on a Friday evening.

The trip would take two hours each way…but having visited Denby Cricket Club in the past, I knew it wasn’t too difficult a drive, with most of it on the motorway.

So, my decision was made…after all, it isn’t that often that local teams get to national semi-finals and finals. Having said that…Sessay Emeralds are probably one of Yorkshire’s most successful women’s teams…coincidentally reaching the same point of this competition last year.

That semi-final had been a close affair, going down to the penultimate ball, with their opponents Dorridge Cricket Club winning the game by six wickets. Reading that back, that doesn’t sound close, and I’ve always found it strange how games are reported as won…this being a case in point. In reality, with three deliveries remaining Dorridge were on 105, trying to overhaul Sessay’s total of 109 for eight.

Fourth ball of the final over and Sessay’s opponents hit a four to tie the scores, and the very next ball was sent to the boundary for another four to win the game. Heartbreak for Sessay as they had come so close to winning.

But that was history, and Sunday provided them with an opportunity to put things right and make the final. Their opponents were an unknown entity having [I was informed] won promotion last season. What I had noted in my research before the game, was that they had actually beaten Dorridge in the group 2 final last week to set up this tie.

So, I was expecting a tough set of opponents for Sessay in this semi-final.

A Journey Begins

Sunday arrived and it was a quite relaxed preparation for the drive down to Denby due to the late timing of first ball. 

As is my custom, I decided to leave plenty of time to arrive at the ground at least an hour before the start of the game, and I’ll be honest, I made excellent time down the motorway…so much so, that I decided to stop off to get some lunch beforehand.

When I say lunch, I mean fast food eaten in a car park…which part way through, I managed to spill down the front of my shirt. I won’t recount the sorts of words that I uttered over the next few minutes…reaching a crescendo as I realised there were no packs of tissues or baby-wipes in the car to wipe off the rather long stretched-out dark stain on my white shirt!

Doing what I could to tidy up…I sneaked out of the car and back into the services to buy something to make me more presentable. A couple of packs of baby wipes were purchased while trying to hide the mess down my front, and I headed quickly back to the car to see how much of the stain I could remove. The air was still rather blue as I made myself as tidy and presentable to polite society as I could.

Why do these things never happen on the way home when it really doesn’t matter?

Back in the car and I made the final short drive from the motorway junction to the ground, amusing myself as I passed the signpost for Ripley Police Station…with thoughts about Sir Thomas having set up a police department to either fine errant tourists having not paid for their parking in the village, or to collect outstanding fines from players in the Theakson Nidderdale League [a little bit of context for those who don’t know – Sir Thomas is the owner of Ripley Castle in Yorkshire and the chairman of the Nidderdale Cricket League].

Okay, it doesn’t take much to amuse me…in this case an association of two places with the same name…I am just a simple man after all.

Ludicrous ideas put to one side…my thoughts turned to my coverage of Sessay Cricket Club over the recent, and not so recent, past. I always seem to cover the men and women’s teams when they get to advanced stages of competitions.

I’d been twice to Lords to cover the Men’s first team in the Village Cricket Cup final. The first time being in 2016, which you can read about on Cricket Yorkshire when Sessay beat Sibton Park; and then again a year later when they came up just short against a superb batting display by Reed Cricket Club.

More recently, I’d covered Sessay Emerald’s lifting of the Yorkshire Women and Girls Cricket League’s The Hundred final at Walton Park at the end of last season. The finals had originally been held at Headingley, but the weather hadn’t cooperated, and it had to be rearranged for a few weeks later. Sessay beating Saxton Women in the final by 34 runs. 

Panicked Arrival

Reaching the ground, vague memories of visiting Denby Cricket Club fought their way to the front of my mind [to be fair, there wasn’t any significant resistance], and I was relieved to see that not much has changed. Driving along the line of cars perched at the top of the embankment overlooking one of the pitches at the club…I started to have a panic attack seeing a women’s team in green currently playing!

Getting out of the car, I approached a photographer a short distance away from where I had parked and asked him the dreaded question…who was playing?

I was told it was Leyland Cricket Club playing Berkswell Cricket Club in the T20 Plate competition. I felt a huge sense of relief given the game was in the second innings, with only a few overs remaining! I was glad that I hadn’t been tricked by Play-Cricket this time, although it was still showing that the T20 game would be contested over 50 overs!

I introduced myself to Nick [the photographer] properly and then let him get on with his coverage without disturbing him too much (you can find his website at https://www.nickbimages.com – some brilliant cricket and rugby photography features).

Panic over, I could relax and get my own game-face on, taking in the wonderful vista from the elevated position above the playing surface, and enjoying the remaining few overs of the plate game.

Game Time

With Leyland winning their T20 National Plate Finals semi-final, the scene was set for Sessay and Copdock to do battle in the cup.

Copdock & Old Ipswichian’s won the toss and decided to put Sessay into bat and that decision was to pay huge dividends immediately…as the two openers were dismissed by some wonderful bowling by Isobel Sidhu in the opening overs (her stats for the game were two wickets for just three runs and two maidens – really brilliant bowling).

So, Sessay had nine runs and had lost two wickets by the end of the third over…facing some fierce bowling and wonderful fielding. It almost felt as if they were being smothered by the overwhelming intensity of their opponents play.

Sessay’s response over the next 11 overs was magnificent. Digging in, Adrianna Darlow and Amy Burton first defended and then went on the attack, the partnership only being broken in the 15th over when Amy was dismissed having batted her way to an excellent 32 from 44 deliveries.

By the end of the 20th over, Sessay had reached 112 for four, with Adrianna finishing on an unbeaten half century.

Listening back to my customary voice notes recorded at the interval as I write this, I thought that Sessay had suffered due to the problematic start to their innings, and because of that…they had probably ended up around 20 runs short of where they would want to be.

Chatting to Charlotte as she had walked around the boundary rope…I knew she was wary about the total reached being probably a little on the low side as well.

I had also noted that I knew that Sessay were good in the field, so if they got off to a good start…then anything was possible.

By the third over, Sessay’s opponents hadn’t lost any wickets, but were on the same score that Sessay had been! The opening of the fourth over and a huge breakthrough as Copdock’s captain Imogen Sidhu was caught having only scored one run.

Two overs later and Sessay claimed their second wicket and things were starting to look much, much more hopeful. In the ninth over another wicket was taken, and could Sessay start to dream about the final?

Copdock & Old Ipswichians were seemingly feeling the pressure…with boundaries being few and far between, scoring an average of around three or four runs an over at that point and starting to fall behind in their chase. Then the fall of their fourth wicket in the 14th over and the impetus had swung decisively in Sessay’s favour.

Up stepped Copdock’s Laila Hollis, and in a crucial 15th over helped to smash 12 runs, putting Sessay’s opponents back in contention; however, Sessay still had a narrow advantage with their opponents needing to score more than one a ball.

The 16th over was a tight one as Sessay restricted Copdock to just two runs…fantastic bowling and fielding given the huge pressure on both teams. Advantage edging slightly more in Sessay’s favour.

The 17th over and Hollis wasn’t messing about…hitting two boundaries that helped Copdock to 14 more runs. Sessay needed another mean over in the 18th…but again Hollis was having none of it, smashing two more boundaries [much to the delight of the Old Ipswichian supporters around the ground], tying the game on 112 runs and putting them on the brink of victory.

First ball of the 19th over and Laila Hollis consummately despatched the ball for four and Copdock & Old Ipswichian Ladies had deservedly won the game. There hadn’t been much difference between the two sides, but Sessay’s opponents had shown some great composure when the pressure built, and Laila Hollis’ unbeaten 48 from 45 deliveries had been both a mature and controlled match-winning innings.

Sessay could have no complaints about the result, but they had put in a good overall team performance to push their opponents all the way.

No Dinnerware Jokes

So, Yorkshire bow out of the 2025 Women’s Club Cup T20 finals at the semi-final stage…or so it would seem at first glance. However, I can reveal that we do still have a representative in the final…as Copdock & Old Ipswichian’s manager was brought up in Harrogate. So, here at Cricket Yorkshire, we’re throwing our wholehearted support behind Copdock – good luck!

The drive home was one of a little disappointment, as it would have been great to see Sessay Emeralds in the final…but as with most sport, there is always next year, and given their pedigree I am sure they can go one better!

The final bonus of the day for me was as I pulled into the car park of a shop near to the ground, I parked next to a lovely DeLorean. I bought a couple of drinks and took a walk around Marty McFly’s Back to the Future vehicle…peering inside like a fanboy to see if it had a flux capacitor installed…if it had, I would have hotwired the car, hit 88 miles per hour and gone back to 1985 in a heartbeat! To be honest, I’d have even gone back to 2015…as that now seems a lifetime ago!

And, dear reader, you have been fortunate..that despite the four teams vying for the two competitions…that I haven’t in anyway tried to contrive a broken Denby cup or Denby plate joke. I’ll leave it there before I’m tempted!

📸 PHOTOS

Want to read more?

Here are all of Mark’s articles and photos on Cricket Yorkshire.

To see more of his photography, you can visit caughtlight.com or he’s @caughtlight on Twitter/X.

There’s also the Caught Light Photography Facebook page.

I also highly recommend his blog called Leica Moments which includes days out at grounds around Yorkshire.