Something to cheer....at last

Jenny Gunn © Getty Images

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Though we lost to New Zealand - our sixth defeat in a row - victory in our final game against India meant we finished third in the quadrangular one-day tournament.

The match against the Kiwis on March 3 was our last in the group stage.

We won the toss and chose to bowl, and we saw a new opening-bowling partnership of Ebony and Lynsey.

Again New Zealand came at us but we managed to get a couple of early wickets, which seemed to slow them down a little.

A good piece of fielding at square-leg by Isa ran out Fahey and then Lynsey picked up the wicket of Tiffen.

Our spinners bowled well in the middle of the innings, with Lor and Holly grabbing a couple of wickets each, and we managed to bowl New Zealand out for 267.

Lynsey Askew hit her first ODI fifty against New Zealand

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Milliken bowled well at the start for them and picked up four wickets in her opening spell. But Lottie stayed there and, with Beth, got us going again.

A few wickets fell, which brought Lynsey to the crease. She looked like she had been playing international cricket for years and not just three games.

She seemed so comfortable out in the middle, playing shots all around the ground and making her first ODI fifty.

She ended up with 68 but, though Isa and Holly scored some vital runs at the end, we fell 27 runs short.

On March 4 we had team photos. At the ground Kate Blackwell came over to talk to Beth, and explained that they had just received a speeding fine from January 14 when we had their car.

Beth and I couldn’t believe we were still having car trouble from Oz!

March 5 was our final game and, even though we had lost all six matches beforehand, we had a chance to finish third.

Sarah Taylor's unbeaten 77 helped secure a belated win

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We were up against India at the ground where we had played most of our games, so we thought we had some sort of home advantage.

We lost the toss and were asked to field, but got two early wickets when I bowled Jain and Lynsey bowled Shama, which really got us going. We bowled well and were backed up by some top fielding.

A bowling change saw Isa get Chopra trapped lbw with her first ball. Dahr and Raj put on a good partnership but this was broken when Beth took a a good diving catch at short extra-cover off the bowling of Holly.

From then on we took wickets at regular times - Holly finished with 3-50 - and a couple of run-outs by Boggy saw us bowl them out for 219.

I was given a new role in opening the batting with Sarah. We managed to put on 83 in 16 overs before Sarah was bowled just after reaching 50.

I didn’t last too much longer, getting bowled for 39, but Tails batted really well and finished the game off with 77 not out while Lydia was unbeaten on 32.

So we finished third after a great team performance. We are now looking forward to a few weeks off before getting back into training for the start of our season.