Northern Diamonds vs Western Storm at Leeds (Headingley) on 22 April 2023.
Diamonds players had told social media that last year was ‘very special’ to them, having won the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy at their third attempt. This season, skipper Hollie Armitage announced that her team was ‘keen to start their RHF Trophy defence. On the day, after a lengthy hiatus between pitch inspections, the rain-affected match was reduced to 36 overs per innings. During the match, Diamonds’ leg-spinner Katie Levick (pictured) bowled a “4-fer” to achieve her legacy ‘300 career wickets’ milestone. Commentary was by BBC Radio Leeds with video highlights from Yorkshire Cricket TV via ECB online (NV Play) – please see below.
Diamonds’ innings *Skipper Hollie Armitage. *Debutantes Chloe Tryon (Rep. South Africa international) Abi Glen and Jess Woolston. *Power-play reduced to 7 overs (39/2) during which Storm’s Lauren Filer took 2 wickets but bowled 13 ‘wides.’ *Dutch international Sterre Kalis (1) lost her leg-stump to the second ball of what turned out to be Filer’s (first) 11-ball over. A second wicket fell when skipper Armitage’s (1) off-stump was similarly skittled during Lauren Filer’s second over. *Tenth over change-of-bowling nudged Diamonds score to 67/2.
*Confusion struck when Phoebe Turner (3) was slow off-the-mark and ‘run out’ at the striker’s end by skipper Luff’s throw from ‘mid-on.’ *Partnering Lauren Winfield-Hill for eleven overs, fellow keeper-turned-batter Bess Heath 71(38) hit three ‘sixes,’ scoring the fastest ‘fifty’ of the day (from 8 ’fours,’ 1 ’six,’ 27 balls.) *After 20 overs skipper Luff was cautioned by umpires for slow over-rate (arising from an extraordinary number of ‘wides’ and other gifted ‘extras,’) and newbie bowler Isla Thomson was stood down. *Next over, Bess Heath snicked an edge to keeper Natasha Wraith from Chloe Skelton. *Drama struck during the 25th over when Storm’s Alex Griffiths bowled a rare double-wicket maiden. *Both Lauren Winfield-Hill 75(79) and Abi Glen (0) made carbon-copy departures, separately losing their bails to Alex Griffiths’ unplayable in-swingers. *Debutante Chloe Tryon 63(36) scored her maiden ‘fifty’ (from 5 ’fours,’ 3 ’sixes,’ 28 balls) *That boosted Diamonds’ score to 250/6 with five overs remaining. *With 45 gifted ‘extras’ including 35 ‘wides,’ Diamonds closed on 290/8.
Storm’s innings *After seven overs’ Power-play Storm were 33/2 (vs 39/2) with little to choose between the sides. *Emma Corney’s (2) bails were sent flying by Lizzie Scott (60-63mph); and Alex Griffiths off-stump was skittled for a second-ball duck by Jess Woolston (53-57mph.) *Fruitful third-wicket partnership between skipper Luff and England veteran Fran Wilson added 89. *Just short of mid-way, Sophie Luff was left stranded, coming down-the-wicket to Katie Levick (44mph.) *Easy stumping for Lauren Winfield-Hill. *A few balls later, Fran Wilson lobbed a ‘dolly’ to Jess Woolston at ‘mid-on’ from Abi Glen (60mph.)
*By mid-way (18 overs) Storm were 103/4 (vs 131/3); without so many gifted ‘extras.’ *Katie Levick took two memorable wickets during Storm’s 25th over. *Firstly Natasha Wraith 24(25) was stumped by her opposite number, chalking-up Katie Levick’s 300 career wickets milestone. *Secondly, Sophia Smale (0) also went ‘leg before’ to Katie Levick, for a third-ball duck. *With both star batters (Luff and Wilson) gone by mid-way, remaining batters were tasked with too much to do.*Finally, tail-enders Chloe Skelton (12) and Isla Thomson (16) did well to make double-figures as Storm remained over 100 runs adrift during the closing stage of the shortened match.
Match summary Suffering a late rain-affected start, the match was reduced to 36 overs per innings. Of the three Diamonds batters who scored ‘fifties,’ Bess Heath scored at the fastest rate. Fourth-wicket century partnership between England veteran Lauren Winfield-Hill (75) and Bess Heath (71) put 200 runs on the board. Another ‘fifty’ was added by RSA international debutante Chloe Tryon, upon debut. With 45 gifted ‘extras’ including 35 ‘wides,’ Diamonds closed on 290/8. By comparison, Storm batters fell short of making big scores. A fruitful third-wicket partnership between skipper Luff and England veteran Fran Wilson added 89 to keep them in the game. As Storm’s remaining wickets tumbled, attention shifted to Diamonds bowler Katie Levick (4-36) who chalked-up a total of 301 career wickets (to date) in ‘List A’ and ‘T20’ combined matches during her fifteen-year career.
Result: Northern Diamonds Women 290/8 beat Western Storm Women 185/10 by 105 runs and with 15 balls remaining
Diamonds batting: 290/8 (8.05 runs-per-over) from 36/36 overs
Lauren Winfield-Hill 75(79), Bess Heath 71(38), Chloe Tryon 63(36), Emma Marlow 17(14)
Western Storm bowling: Alex Griffiths 2/40, Chloe Skelton 2/45, Lauren Filer 2/54, Sophia Smale 1/36;
Fow 1-8, 2-33, 3-71, 4-180, 5-200, 6-200, 7-241, 8-265.
Western Storm batting: 185/10 ( 5.52r-p-o) from 33.3 overs; target 291 from 36 overs
Fran Wilson 43(43), Sophie Luff 33(54), Natasha Wraith 24(25), Danielle ‘Danni’ Gibson 17(9), Isla Thomson 16(19), Chloe Skelton 12(28);
Diamonds bowling: Katie Levick 4/36, Lizzie Scott 2/17, Abi Glen 2/34, Jess Woolston 1/28;
Fow 1-5, 2-8, 3-97, 4-97, 5-125, 6-138, 7-148, 8-149, 9-160, 10-185.
Scorecard with Video-highlights, courtesy of ECB via NV-Play on YouTube at URL: https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/#mca776e21-9eab-434c-a611-51b40ff8812b_~scorecard
Match free-to-air (starting from 01h59m08s/06h56m43s) courtesy of Yorkshire Cricket TV (without commentary) on YouTube at URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrSHPqRX2RA&t=7s
Fourth placed Diamonds awarded 4 points. Latest English Cricket Board tables at URL: https://www.ecb.co.uk/matches/rachael-heyhoe-flint/tables
