France taste glory in historic quadrangular series

Recently, a historic women’s quadrangular series took place in Nantes, France. Austria, Norway and Jersey joined the hosts for a four-day tournament. While Jersey made their T20I debut against Guernsey in May this year, for Austria, France and Norway, the tournament signalled their bows in the format.

With all sides facing off against one another twice, it was France who finished on top of the standings with five wins from six. Their only loss came against second-placed Jersey, who defeated the French by five wickets on the third day of the tournament. Austria finished third while Norway finished fourth, their solitary win coming against Austrians on the opening day.

The leading run-scorer in the tournament was Andrea-Mae Zepeda of Austria, who hit 125 runs over six innings. She impressed with the ball too: her eight wickets came at an average of 9.50. France’s success was based around the wickets of Emmanuelle Brelivet – she took 10 in the tournament – as well as the all-round success of Jennifer King, who took seven wickets and hit 101 runs in the tournament at an average above 50.

Brelivet, the France captain, felt the team could take plenty from the tournament. "It was such an intense experience with all the teams, playing very good cricket and enjoying every moment," she said. "We will never forget this epic experience at home."

For the coach, Andy German, it was a chance to put cricket in France on the map. "It was great to finally showcase cricket in France to a French public with a great French cricket team."

The teams are already looking forward to the next edition of the tournament, which could be held in Jersey or Austria.

"We hope all the teams participating to the tournament had a great time," said Maëlle Cargouët, tournament organiser and member of the France team. "These four days were played in a very good spirit and showed good level of cricket. We are now looking forward to next year!"