Cricket in Southeast Europe stands tall and firm as Bulgaria Women tour Estonia for a three match T20 series on 15th and 16th of May respectively. The first two games were played on the opening day of the series at the Estonian National Cricket and Rugby Ground, Tallinn, Estonia.
Estonia Women took full advantage of the home conditions, winning the series comfortably 3-0. Estonia Women won both the games chasing, winning by 8 wickets and 6 wickets respectively, and the last game winning by just 6 runs.
On a venue where pacers were not well-suited for assistance, skipper Annemari Vessik, along with Maret Valner and 19-year-old right-arm fast bowler Viktoria Frey, dominated the Bulgarian batting line-up. Vessik claimed 4 wickets, Valner 6, and Frey took a total of 8 wickets, including a fifer, accounting for 18 of the 20 Bulgarian wickets across both games.
In the first match between both these sides, a total of 87 runs were scored by Bulgaria asking Estonia to chase down 88 runs in 20 overs. Slaveya Galabova was the one and only lone warrior standing tall against Estonia scoring 25 runs. Estonia Women who were brilliant with the ball in hand in restricting Bulgaria to 87, it could have been even less but courtesy of extras, Bulgaria managed to pass the 85-run mark.
A total of 49 extras were bowled by Estonia in the first game which they would definitely want to rectify. Vessik, Valner and Frey did the job with ball in hand bowling them out for 87 only. Chasing down 88 was not a big deal for Estonia as they managed to chase it down in just the 12th over. Viktoria Frey was not only brilliant with the ball but with the bat as well, scoring some crucial 39 runs in the first game taking Estonia Women home comfortably.
The second outing on the same day for Bulgaria Women was even more disheartening as they could only manage to score 75 this time. Viktoria Frey with the ball again just bamboozled the Bulgarian batting line-up and destroyed their hopes of keeping the series alive. Frey took 5 wickets by just giving 13 runs and restricted the Bulgarian Women to another low score in the series. One improvement that Estonia would definitely want to rectify is not bowling extras, gifting 33 extras, helping them cross the 70-run mark with ease.
Frey was fabulous with the ball then coming on to bat scoring 12 crucial quick runs and again making sure Estonia got across the line. Viktoria Frey was the standout in both the games, picking up 8 wickets with a fifer, and scoring 51 runs in 2 innings.
Talking about the third game between Estonia Women and Bulgarian Women, Estonia clean sweeped Bulgaria in the third and the final match between both these sides. Estonia Women scored 115 with just Beenish Wani being the highest scorer of 18 runs. It was Bulgaria Women who helped Estonia comfortably cross the 100-run mark by giving away 64 extras in a single innings, the worst figures to have under your name. Stanislava Sarandeva was the standout bowler for Bulgaria picking 4 wickets by giving just 17 runs.
Bulgaria on the other hand looked solid with a stand firm partnership of wicket-keeper batter Nlkolova and Skipper Ruynekova scoring 35 and 37 respectively. Maret Valner was the bowler amongst wickets picking two and ending up with 8 wickets throughout the series. Estonia somehow managed to restrict Bulgaria to chase down the total and won the game by 6 runs. Skipper Annemari Vessik bowled 2 maiden overs and picked a wicket as well and was awarded the Player of the Match.
It was a quick succession of a series between Estonia Women and Bulgaria Women but a very exciting and fierce competition between both the sides. Even though Estonia dominated the Bulgarian side it was a befitting reply from both ends.
