Women's T20 Blast: victories for Surrey and Bears

BBC News

4 hours ago

Ryana MacDonald-Gay's career-best T20 figures of 4-14 sparked a spectacular Lancashire Thunder batting collapse as Surrey won by 53 runs and moved seven points clear at the top of the Women's T20 Blast table.Grace Harris scored 57 to help the home side recover from 17-3 and set the visitors 172 for victory in scorching conditions at the Oval, but some calamitous batting from the visitors meant they finished 118 all out.At Edgbaston, Essex pushed the second-placed Bears to the penultimate ball of the match before succumbing to a two-wicket defeat.A 94-run stand between Cordelia Griffith and Maddie Penna and some tight bowling from the visitors looked like it might earn Essex their first away win and a double over the Bears before Charis Pavely blasted her first tournament half-century to edge them over the line. Match scorecardsAfter winning the toss and choosing to bowl first Lancashire were eyeing a third successive victory when Sophie Morris bowled home captain Bryony Smith for four.It got even better for the visitors when England's Sophia Dunkley was bowled by Tara Norris for 10, and Kira Chathli (0) was run out two balls later to leave the home side teetering at 17-3.When Danni Wyatt-Hodge (12) became Morris' second victim with the score at 50 it was left to Grace Harris and Paige Scholfield to repair the damage.Harris smashed two sixes and eight fours in her 31-ball 57, while Scholfield's 37 included five boundaries, including a six.Lancashire's chase was rocked by the early dismissals of Eve Jones (5), Seren Smale (5) and Fi Morris (2) to leave them 32-3 in the sixth over, but hopes were raised by a 70-run fourth-wicket stand between Emma Lamb (64) and skipper Ellie Threlkeld (32).They threatened to take the game to a thrilling climax only for MacDonald-Gay and Phoebe Franklin (3-19) to claim six wickets between them in the space of 3.4 overs to lead Surrey to a fourth victory in five games with Franklin also accounting for Ailsa Lister with a run out along the way."We probably thought 171 was under par as 180-200 was the goal when I went in and we believed we could defend it," Franklin said."We've been telling Ryana to back her strengths and keep it as simple as possible and getting that ball to nip back in."
Bears roar late to beat Essex
The Bears are back up to second place after a fourth win in five matches but they were made to work hard by a struggling Essex side.An unbroken 94-run fourth-wicket stand between Griffith (47) and Penna (41) underpinned the Essex total of 150-3 after the visitors had won the toss and elected to bat at Edgbaston.Lauren Winfield-Hill (30) and skipper Grace Scrivens (15) got the visitors off to a solid start as the home bowlers toiled in the Birmingham heat.Winfield-Hill's run out when she hesitated to a Griffith's call for a sharp single had Essex wobbling at 56-3 in the eighth over only for Penna to join Griffith, steady the ship, and set the Bears a challenging total.That target looked a distant one when the tournament's top wicket-taker, Esmae MacGregor, struck twice in the space of three balls to dismiss openers Davina Perrin (3) and Meg Austin (3) and leave the home side 11-2.Issy Wong's 25-ball 33 kept the Bears in the hunt, but when she gambled on a second run and was run out it was left to Pavely (68*) to take the initiative.Having survived an early scare when a lofted shot went through the hands of Sophia Smale at long-on for six, the England under-19 international struck two more maximums and five fours as she steered the home side to victory."It was one of those situations where it either comes off or it doesn't and luckily it did for me today," Pavely said."It's a case of having the confidence to go for it in those conditions. Sometimes you come off and sometimes you don't but it was nice to play that role today."
Thursday fixtures
Taunton: Somerset v Hampshire Hawks (14:30 BST)Leicester: The Blaze v Lancashire Thunder (14:30 BST)