The Blaze vs Western Storm at Leicester, The Uptonsteel County Ground on 7 June 2024 (13h00)
When batting, Storm collectively failed to notch-up 100 runs. England skipper Heather Knight made top-score with twenty, played her first match of the competition this season, with four other batters who scraped double-figures. For Blaze, debutante international player Heather Graham (replacing Nadine deKlerk) also played her first match of the competition this season, and took a 4-fer on her ‘dream debut’: please see post-match interview below. When replying, Blaze lost two early wickets during their power-play. Blaze’s main batting partnership between Scotland’s legendary Bryce sisters ended within sight of the finish, with twenty runs needed from 52 balls remaining. Finally with level-scores, partnered by Sarah Bryce, Heather Graham came down-the-wicket to loft Blaze’s winning ‘four.’ Broadcast without match commentary. Weather: believed to be cloudy and breezy as elsewhere, with patches of blue sky 17-20C.
*Storm’s innings *Storm’s innings skipper Sophie Luff, Heather Knight (England) Fran Wilson (ex-England), Chloe Skelton, Sophia Smale, (England u-19s), Amanda-Jade Wellington (Australia Big bash); & Ellie Anderson ‘on loan’ & Issy Wong from Sparks; *without Danni Gibson – knee injury) [*Sarah Bryce keeping wicket for Blaze] *Nat Wraith was bowled, with her ‘off-stump’ flattened by Grace Ballinger who chalked-up a rare wicket maiden; *Fran Wilson was stumped by Sarah Bryce, from Heather Graham’s third ball; *After 6 overs power-play, 29/2; *After scoring consecutive ‘fours,’ Heather Knight was bowled ‘top-of-middle’ stump with flying bails, from Kirstie Gordon; *After scoring consecutive ‘fours from Lucy Higham, next over Amanda-Jade Wellington played across-the-line and went went ‘leg-before’ to Josie Groves, *By mid-way, 58/4; *During the 13th over, Alex Griffiths was bowled beneath her bat, by Lucy Higham; *Two overs later, Sophie Luff was caught at catchable height by Kirstie Gordon, from Lucy Higham; *With four overs remaining, Issy Wong was ‘run-out’ at the non-striker’s end by Sarah Bryce’s down-wicket throw to bowler Grace Ballinger; *Next over, Sophia Smale stepped down-the-wicket, missed and fell over backwards to regain ground, but was stumped by Nat Wraith from Heather Graham; Heather Graham remains on a hat-trick, having taken two wickets from her last two balls; *Firstly Ellie Anderson was bowled for a golden duck; *Next ball Chloe Skelton was caught at ‘long-on’ by Marie Kelly; *Storm’s batting: Heather Knight 20(19), Sophie Luff 12(20), Fran Wilson 11(11), Amanda-Jade Wellington 10(6), Sophia Smale 10(12); *Blaze’ bowling: Heather Graham 4/10, Lucy Higham 2/18, Josie Groves 1/8; Grace Ballinger 1/17, Kirstie Gordon 1/23;
*Blaze’s innings: *skipper Kirstie Gordon (England A’), Tammy Beaumont (England), Josie Groves (England u19s), Kathryn & Sarah Bryce (Scotland) *With Heather Graham (Australia Big bash) replacing international player Nadine de Klerk; *Without Georgie Boyce (injured); [*Natasha ‘Nat’ Wraith keeping wicket for Storm];*Tammy Beaumont went ‘leg-before’ during Issy Wong’s first over; *Teresa Graves was caught at ‘cover’ by Fran Wilson from Ellie Anderson’s first ball; *After 6 overs power-play, 38/2 (vs 29/2); By mid-way, 71/2 (vs 58/4); *Next over, top-scorer Kathryn Bryce was bowled by Lauren Filer, (4 short of 50); *At which point Blaze needed 20 runs from 52 balls remaining – as mentioned above; *Blaze’s batting: Kathryn Bryce 46(33) Sarah Bryce 37*not out (33); *Storm’s bowling: Ellie Anderson 1/16, Issy Wong 1/18, Lauren Filer 1/20;
*Match result: *The Blaze 103/3 (7.2 runs-per-over, from 14.1/20 ov.; target 100 from 20/20ov.) beat Western Storm 99/10 (5.0 rpo from 19.3/20 ov.) by seven wickets (with 35 balls remaining)
Scorecard courtesy of ECB @url https://www.ecb.co.uk/charlotte-edwards-cup/match-centre/104392#scorecard AppleMac users may need to scroll down on left margin to select a match
*Video highlights (37) courtesy of Blaze & NV Play @url https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/#v1617b88c-9e20-4bcf-b643-94f3f044d19c
*Full match free-to-air courtesy of Western Storm (via NV Play) on YouTube<02h45m35s> @url https://westernstorm.co.uk/news/2024-cec-the-blaze-v-western-storm-live/
*(Heather) Graham Delights in Dream Debut on YouTube<03h19m> @url https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBDxV-1xqwk&t=5s
