South East Stars vs The Blaze at Beckenham (Kent County Ground) on 30 June 2024 at 09h30 (delayed start)
History was made when Blaze posted their highest all-time total (to date at 50 overs for ‘List A’: 313/9) with ‘fifties’ from A) Ella Claridge(pictured) posting career-best figures [71 runs (from 45 balls)]; B) Sarah Bryce 81(71), & C) Marie Kelly 52(54.) Firstly, Scotland’s Bryce sisters laid ’solid foundation, with 94 runs. Guest Australian Heather Graham’s 28(18) brief partnership with Marie Kelly added 58. Another 87 between Marie Kelly and Ella Claridge’s ensured Stars needed ‘a good batting partnership’ to stay in contention. When Stars replied, commentators mentioned that Stars batters faced a ‘huge task.’ England’s Alice Davidson-Richards made top-score, nursing an earlier fielding injury, but no batter made ‘fifty.’ Heather Graham took Stars’ final two wickets four balls apart, for a match-winning 6-fer (6/39) to win by a ‘comfortable margin.’ Commentators lauded Ella Claridge for a ‘great cameo’ and separately spoke of a similar recent result when Blaze last played Stars, to bag their first Charlotte Edwards Cup (at 20 overs.) Commentators were Jamie Reid (BBC Sport) & Michael ‘Mike’ McCann (Sports journalist.) Weather: mostly dense grey cloud over 15-17C. Six overs were docked-per-side following heavy rain.
*Blaze’s innings *Skipper Kirstie Gordon (England A) & Lucy Higham (England A); *Josie Groves (England u19s) *With Kathryn Bryce, Sarah Bryce (Scotland) *With Heather Graham (Australia big bash), Michaela Kirk (from Rep. South Africa) *Without Tammy Beaumont & Sarah Glenn (England call-up) *Without Nadine deKlerk (RSA call-up) or Georgie Boyce (injured); [*Chloe Hill keeping wicket for Stars];*Beth Miles substitute fielder for Alice Davidson-Richards who later returned to bat – please see below; *Teresa Graves was ‘run out’ from Phoebe Franklin’s 2nd ball; *Kathryn Bryce was bowled by Tilly Corteen-Coleman’s 14th ball; *By mid-way 147/2 (22/44 ov.) *Top-scorer Sarah Bryce was caught at ‘mid-on’ by Phoebe Franklin from Alexa Stonehouse; *Heather Graham was bowled by Kalea Moore’s 7th ball; *Next over, Marie Kelly who’d scored ‘fifty,’ was ‘run out’ from Phoebe Franklin’s throw from the boundary to the striker’s end; *‘Previously at Lightning for KIA Superleague,’ Michaela Kirk was caught at ‘cow corner’ by Tash Farrant, from Phoebe Franklin; *As mentioned above, Ella Claridge played a ‘great’ cameo until final over when caught at ‘in-the-deep’ by Emma Jones, from Tash Farrant; *Josie Groves was caught ‘low-down’ by Aylish Cranstone, also from Tash Farrant’s death over; *Kirstie Gordon faced one final ball; *Blaze’s batting Sarah Bryce 81(71), Ella Claridge 71(45), Marie Kelly 52(54), Kathryn Bryce 30(29), Heather Graham 28(18), Michaela Kirk 18(24); *Stars’ bowling: Tash Farrant 2/67, Kalea Moore 1/28, Alexa Stonehouse 1/39, Phoebe Franklin 1/44, Tilly Corteen-Coleman 1/53;
*Stars’ innings *Skipper Bryony Smith (England A) with Alice Davidson-Richards (England) Tilly Corteen-Coleman & Alexa Stonehouse (England u-19s) Without Alice Capsey (England call-up) *Without Georgia Redmayne (Australia big bash) *Without Ryana Macdonald-Gay & Paige Scholfield (both England ‘A’) [Sarah Bryce keeping wicket for Blaze] *Following a string of 9 ‘dot’ balls, Bryony Smith was caught at ‘mid-wicket’ by Kirstie Gordon from Kathryn Bryce; *Promoted to top-order, Kalea Moore was caught vertically by Sarah Bryce collecting at ‘slip,’ from Heather Graham; *Tash Farrant snicked behind to keeper Sarah Bryce, from Heather Graham; *Deceived by ‘extra bounce’ two balls later, Emma Jones was caught behind by keeper Sarah Bryce for a 2nd-ball duck, from Heather Graham *(misreported by some sources as ‘Jones stumped for a second ball duck’); *Phoebe Franklin was caught by Cassidy McCarthy from Josie Groves; *At mid-way (22/44 ov.) 118/5 (vs147/2); *With ‘2nd highest strike-rate for the entire competition,’ Aylish Cranstone swept but went ‘leg-before’ to a ‘full’ (length) ball from Josie Groves; *Chloe Hill played a spirited cameo until stumped by Sarah Bryce from Kirstie Gordon; *Next over Alexa Stonehouse went ‘leg-before’ for a 3rd ball duck from Heather Graham; *Suffering from an earlier injury, top-scorer Alice Davidson-Richards was caught at ‘backward point’ by Kathryn Bryce from Heather Graham; *Finally three balls later, Dani Gregory was caught at ‘mid-wicket’ by Cassidy McCarthy, from Heather Graham; *Stars’ batting Alice Davidson-Richards 44(33), Tash Farrant 35(38), Aylish Cranstone 33(36), Chloe Hill 17(16), Phoebe Franklin 13(15), Kalea Moore 11(27), Bryony Smith 11(13); *Blaze’s bowling: Heather Graham 6/39, Josie Groves 2/26, Kathryn Bryce 1/17, Kirstie Gordon 1/21;
Match result: The Blaze 318/8; (7.2 runs-per-over from 44/44 overs) awarded 5 points beat South East Stars 185/10 (@5.7 rpo from 32/44 overs, target 319 from 44 overs) by 133 runs (Duckworth-Lewis-Stern DLS method)
*Scorecard courtesy of ECB @url: https://www.ecb.co.uk/rachael-heyhoe-flint-trophy/match-centre/104443#scorecard AppleMac users may need to scroll down on left margin to select a match
*Video highlights (88) courtesy of South East Stars & powered by NV Play @url https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/#v5f93493c-df44-46d7-a510-c3c520ae11bc
*Full match free-to-air courtesy of South East Stars (via NV Play) on YouTube<06h29m20s> @url https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jz2Co8zPdg
*Updated fixtures and results @url http://4theloveofsport.co.uk/2024/05/12/updated-rachael-heyhoe-flint-trophy-fixtures-and-results/
