Surrey and Bears win in Women’s T20 Blast

With Surrey winning by 53 runs and moving seven points clear of the Women’s T20 Blast table, Ryana MacDonald-Gay’s career-best 4-14 T20 figures sparked a spectacular Lancashire Thunder batting collapse.

In scorching conditions at the Oval, Grace Harris scored 57 to help the home side come back from 17-3 and win 172 games. However, some bad batting from the visitors led to a 118-run record.

Essex fell to the second-placed Bears at Edgbaston on the final ball before falling to two-wicket short.

Before Charis Pavely blasted her first tournament half-century past the Bears, it appeared as though a 94-run stand between Cordelia Griffith and Maddie Penna and some deft bowling from the visitors would give Essex their first away victory and a double.

Match results are displayed on the cards.

When Sophie Morris bowled home captain Bryony Smith for four, Lancashire were on the verge of a third successive victory after winning the toss and choosing to bowl first.

When England’s Sophia Dunkley was bowled by Tara Norris for 10 and Kira Chathli was sent out two balls later, leaving the visitors with a 17-3 record, things got better for the visitors.

Grace Harris and Paige Scholfield were tasked with fixing the damage when Danni Wyatt-Hodge (12) became Morris’ second victim with a score of 50).

In her 31-ball 57, Harris hit two sixes and eight fours, while Scholfield’s 37, which included five boundaries, including a six, did not.

Eve Jones (5), Seren Smale (5), and Fi Morris (2) early in the sixth over, but hopes were boosted by Emma Lamb (64) and Ellie Threlkeld (32), who scored a 70-run fourth-wicket stand.

Only for MacDonald-Gay and Phoebe Franklin (3-19) to take the game’s thrilling climax and take six wickets in 3.4 overs to help Surrey win its fourth game without a run out, led by Franklin and Ailsa Lister, who also contributed with a run out, with Franklin scoring twice.

When I went in, Franklin said, “We probably thought 171 was under par because we believed we could defend it because 180-200 was the goal.”

After the visitors had won the toss and chosen to bat at Edgbaston, an unbroken 94-run fourth-wicket stand between Griffith (47) and Penna (41) secured the Essex total of 150-3.

As the home bowlers struggled in the Birmingham heat, Lauren Winfield-Hill (30) and Grace Scrivens (15) led the visitors to a strong start.

Winfield-Hill’s run out when she resisted Griffith’s call for a sharp single left Essex wriggling at 56-3 in the eighth over, only for Penna to join Griffith, steady the ship, and give the Bears a challenging total.

When Davina Perrin (3) and Meg Austin (3) were dismissed by the tournament’s top wicket-taker, Esmae MacGregor (2) in three balls, leaving the home side 11-2, that target appeared far off.

The Bears were kept on the lookout by Issy Wong’s 25-ball 33, but Pavely (68*) had to take the lead when she gambled on a second run and was out.

The England under-19 international led the home side to victory after surviving an early scare when a lofted shot went through the hands of Sophia Smale at long-on for six. She added two more maximums and five fours.

It either came off or didn’t, Pavely said, and luckily it did for me today.

Somerset vs. Hampshire Hawks match at Taunton (14:30 BST)