Surrey back on top, wins for Bears & Durham

Tash Farrant and Grace Harris took three wickets each as Surrey moved back to the top of the women’s T20 Blast group table with a five-wicket win over Essex.

The home side were going well at Chelmsford as Grace Scrivens (39) and Lauren Winfield Hill (36) shared an opening stand of 75, but they lost momentum as Farrant and Harris worked their way through the order and finished on 148-7.

Surrey slumped from 67-2 to 85-3 in reply, but Kira Chathli made 40 from 34 balls and a boundary by Alice Davidson-Richards saw them to 150-5 with nine balls left.

Elsewhere, the third-placed Bears defeated Hampshire by 13 runs and Durham saw off winless Somerset by four wickets at Taunton.

Essex went into the game against Surrey having lost their previous two, but Scrivens and Winfield-Hill gave home followers cause for optimism with 13 boundaries between them before the former was caught at cover off Dani Gregory.

Winfield-Hill – who was dropped on seven – followed in the next over when she tried to sweep Harris and top-edged to fine leg, but it was a spell by Farrant that sent the innings into decline.

She bowled Lissy MacLeod behind her legs with a looping yorker and had Cordelia Griffith caught at deep mid-wicket next ball.

Farrant thought she had a hat-trick as she appealed for leg before against Jo Gardner, but the umpire had spotted a thin edge. However, the left-armer (3-20) had Maddie Penna caught in the deep in her next over.

Harris rounded off the innings by taking return catches offered by Gardner and Eve Gray – and there were two wickets in an over for Esmae McGregor as Bryony Smith and Alice Capsey fell to successive balls to leave Surrey 31-2 in their chase.

There was further encouragement for Essex when Danni Wyatt-Hodge (21) hit Aftaba Maqsood to mid-off, but Chathli and Harris (31) added 40 in three overs and even though both departed as McGregor returned 3-33, Davidson-Richards and Phoebe Franklin finished the job.

After losing Amelie Munday to the third ball of the game at Taunton, Bex Odgers (36) and Niamh Holland (31) gave Somerset hope of a decent total against Durham with a second-wicket stand of 58 – both of them hitting a six off England’s Lauren Filer, Holland’s an audacious ramp shot in the fifth over.

Wickets, though, fell at regular intervals after Holland was caught at long-on off Mady Villiers (2-23) and they were indebted to Amanda-Jane Wellington for a cameo of 31 off 17 balls before she was run out from the final ball of the innings as they posted 138-7.

At Edgbaston, the Bears were propelled to a score of 178-7 by 19-year-old Meg Austin’s 51 off 38 balls, including seven fours.

She put on 70 for the first wicket with Davina Perrin (30) before holing out at long-on, the first of three wickets in four balls for Daisy Gibb, who had only taken two in five previous appearances.

Sterre Kalis hit a glorious straight six in her 35 from 21 balls to keep the runs coming and Natasha Wraith pushed the score on in the closing overs with an unbeaten 38 off 24.

Hampshire, missing the injured Ella McCaughan, scorer of a match-winning century against Essex last Thursday, lost Charli Knott and Maia Bouchier early in their reply and a stand of 46 between Georgia Adams (32 off 31) and Rhianna Southby (29) was not enough to keep them up with the required rate.

Utilita Bowl: Hampshire Hawks v Surrey