SUFFOLK ladies ended their season on a high by winning the ECB T20 Division Three tournament at Mildenhall.

Originally drawn against Shropshire, Bedfordshire and Norfolk over two days, Shropshire’s non-arrival meant games against Norfolk and Beds to see who reached the final.

A narrow loss against Norfolk put Suffolk on the back foot, but a comfortable win over Beds in the afternoon left them hopeful of making the final. The following day a renaissance from Beds saw them beat Norfolk and by a close net run rate play Suffolk in the final.

Suffolk, captained by Emma Elsom in the absence of Vicky Mitchell, won the toss and chose to bat, but the early loss of Robyn Wardrope and Fliss Cleverly saw them precariously placed at 17 for two.

There then followed the outstanding batting partnership of the tournament as skipper Emma Elsom and Penny Everett put together an unbeaten 110-run partnership for the third wicket. Showing great composure and good shot selection they simply batted Beds out of the game, and a final total of 127 for two from 20 overs was always going to be hard to chase.

A very tight opening six overs from Cleverley and vice-captain Rachel Woodward tightened the screw, and with wickets falling regularly the rate required by Beds grew and grew. The performance in the field was outstanding and the hard lessons learnt about the side’s fielding settings in the defeat against Norfolk bore great fruit as Beds struggled to find the boundaries they needed to win the game.

In the end a comfortable victory by over 40 runs saw a jubilant Suffolk enjoy some well-deserved success for all their hard work not just this summer but over last winter, and it was left to skipper Emma Elsom to proudly lift the first ever silverware won by the Suffolk ladies.