2 days ago
Surrey suffer first defeat as Bears beat Durham
A 92-run opening stand followed by taking early wickets in the reply helped The Blaze end Surrey's 100% start to the women's T20 Blast at The Kelly and Georgia Elwiss got the visitors off to a lively start after being put in to bat by the leaders and they never looked back despite their innings falling Wyatt-Hodge threatened to lead an unlikely Surrey victory charge after the loss of three wickets in the opening 10 balls but her dismissal for 60 ended any hopes of a fifth successive the day's other game Mady Villiers made an unbeaten 85 for struggling Durham but was powerless to prevent the impressive Bears from cantering to a seven-wicket win in the North scorecardsWith four wins under their belt, Surrey were expected to be tested by the second-placed Blaze in the capital and so it proved as the visitors raced out of the blocks with Kelly smashing 46 from 29 balls in a 92-run opening stand with five fours and two sixes should have precipitated a run-fest for The Blaze but after Elwiss' well-constructed 61 only Josie Groves (19 not out) reached double figures as they finished on may have fancied their chances of chasing down that target but were rocked back on their heels as Bryony Smith, Kira Chathli and Paige Scholfield were all dismissed without Wyatt-Hodge's fourth half-century in five innings gave them hope of a recovery but when she was dismissed for 60 to reduce the home side to 85-5, The Blaze, led by captain Kirstie Gordon's 3-35, were able to get over the line and reduce the gap at the top to just one point.
Villiers' career-best knock in vain as Bears ease home
Durham suffered a fourth defeat in five outings despite a T20 career-best 85 not out from England all-rounder Mady winning the toss and choosing to bat the home side were soon in trouble when they lost former New Zealand skipper Suzie Bates to the third ball of the innings - clean bowled by England's Issy Wong without Dobson (8) quickly became Wong's second scalp but Villiers, who was dropped early in her innings, crashed 11 fours and one six while finding useful support from skipper Hollie Armitage (15) and Bess Heath (27) to keep the scoreboard ticking over and set a challenging return of 2-19 was well backed up by Hannah Baker's 2-22 from her four overs with the Bears bowling attack standing-up well to Villiers' visitors made light work of their victory target with openers Meg Austin and Davina Perrin sharing a stand of 62 from the opening six overs to set a platform for them to ease home with 10 balls to eventually perished for 49 from 31 deliveries only for wicketkeeper Nat Wraith to take the Bears to the brink of victory with her 56 containing seven fours before she became Villiers' sole victim with the ball."I don't think we should go away from how well Mady (Villiers) played first half - it was a great innings and if you're doing things like that, you shouldn't be losing games of cricket," said Durham head coach Dani Bears remain in third place while Durham are second from bottom.
Thursday fixture
Chelmsford: Essex v HampshirePlay starts 14:30 BST
