The Blaze won the Women's Metro Bank One-Day Cup final at Trent Bridge by three wickets, with Emma Jones hitting a boundary off the final ball to clinch a thrilling victory.
Hampshire scored 251-9 from their 50 overs, with Ella McCaughan making 78 and Freya Kemp 52. Lucy Higham took 4-49 for the Blaze, while Charley Phillips claimed 3-38.
The Blaze reached 254-7 in reply, thanks to Tammy Beaumont's 74 and Georgia Elwiss's 64. Amanda-Jade Wellington took 3-36 for Hampshire.
The win completed a treble for the Blaze, who had already won the T20 Blast and County Cup this season. They appeared to be cruising towards their target of 252 after half-centuries from Beaumont and Elwiss at the Utilita Bowl.
But Hampshire's spinners fought back. Wellington took 3-36 and Bex Tyson 2-46 as four wickets fell for 29 runs, leaving the Blaze needing 30 from the final three overs.
Jones, however, kept her cool. She finished unbeaten on 34 from 25 balls, and with two runs needed from Daisy Gibb's final delivery, she pulled it to the boundary to seal a remarkable treble.
For Hampshire, it was heartbreak on home soil for a second successive year, after they lost the 2025 final to Lancashire.
Asked to bat after Blaze captain Kirstie Gordon won the toss, Hampshire started slowly. Ella McCaughan and Maia Bouchier gradually found their rhythm and shared an opening stand of 84 from 106 balls.
Bouchier, who had scored hundreds in her previous two innings, took a liking to Lucy Higham's bowling, driving the off-spinner twice for leg-side boundaries
Source: www.bbc.com — Read the original article
Leave a Comment