Warwickshire Bears (women) vs The Blaze (women) (match 12, league one – stand-alone fixture) at Birmingham, ‘Edgbaston’ Stadium on 27 May 2026
The Blaze women chalked-up their third consecutive win, sending Bears to their third back-to-back defeat. Batting first, Bears were on-track by mid-way, beyond which point they twice lost three wickets in the space of nine balls. Top-scorer Abbey Freeborn scored ‘fifty.’ Best Blaze bowlers were Grace Ballinger (seam) taking 3 wickets/conceding 24 runs; and Lucy Higham (spin) 2/16; with five bowlers taking at least one wicket each. Turning to Blaze’s reply, stand-in skipper Marie Kelly made top-score with ‘fifty,’ remaining on equal terms until mid-way: 94/1 (vs 94/0.) Entertainment value was added when Best Bears bowler Mary Taylor (seam) took two wickets with consecutive balls, expectant for a ‘hat-trick’ during Blaze’s penultimate over. Commentators for Bears TV Livestream were Adam Bridge (host) with Melinda Farrell (The Blaze TV & SKY TV) and ‘media award-winner’ Aaron Viles (Cricketfanaticsmag.com.) Weather: hot with ‘glorious’ blue sky 28C.
Bears women wearing ’sky’ blue diamond cheque with yellow trim over dark blue; with yellow helmets and black caps; *skipper Georgia Davis *[Ella Claridge keeping wicket for Blaze] *with international player Georgia Redmayne (Australia Womens Big Bash League WBBL);*After 6 overs ‘power-play’ 60/0; *by ‘mid-way ’94/0 (after 10 overs); *Meg Austin was caught by Charli Knott from Georgia Elwiss; *Georgia Redmayne was stumped by keeper Ella Claridge, from Lucy Higham; *Three balls later Charis Pavely was caught at ‘deep mid-wicket’ by Charli Knott from Lucy Higham; *Scoring ‘fifty’ Abbey Freeborn mis-timed reverse-sweep, caught by keeper Ella Claridge, from Charli Knott; *Amu Surenkumar mis-timed, caught by Charli Knott, from Grace Ballinger; *Nat Wraith also mis-timed, caught at ‘deep-square’ Emma Jones, from Grace Ballinger; *Next ball Alexa Stonehouse was caught at ‘backward-point’ by Marie Kelly, from Grace Ballinger, for a ‘golden duck’; *Mary Taylor mis-timed, was caught at ‘mid-off’ by Marie Kelly, from Charley Phillips; Bears women batting: Abbey Freeborn 56(45); Meg Austin 44(31); Amu Surenkumar 27(15); Mary Taylor 13(12); The Blaze women bowling: Grace Ballinger 3/24(4); Lucy Higham 2/16(3); Charley N Phillips 1/28(3); Charli Knott 1/31(4); Georgia Elwiss; 1/16(2);
The Blaze women wearing orange with over black with half-white vertical trouser stripe and black pads;*Stand-in skipper Marie Kelly – pictured *[Nat Wraith keeping wicket for Bears]; *With international player Charli Knott (Australia WBBL) *without Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amy Jones or Sarah Glenn (England IT20 World-Cup call-up); *also without Kirstie Gordon, Kathryn & Sarah Bryce (Scotland IT20 World-Cup call-up); *Tammy Beaumont mis-timed, caught at ‘deep-square’ by Amu Surenkumar, from Alexa Stonehouse; *After 6 overs ‘power-play’ 54/1(vs60/1) *Level-pegging 94/1(vs94/0) by ‘mid-way’ (after 10 overs); *Charli Knott was caught at ‘deep mid-wicket’ by Charis Pavely, from Amu Surenkumar; *Four balls later, Marie Kelly was caught at ‘extra cover’ by Georgia Davis from Amu Surenkumar; *Ella Claridge mis-timed to ‘short-fine,’ was caught by Phoebe Brett, from Mary Taylor; *Georgia Elwiss mis-timed, lobbing a ‘dolly,’ was caught-and-bowled by Mary Taylor; *Next ball Georgie Boyce mis-timed to ‘mid-wicket,’ was caught by Millie Taylor from Mary Taylor for a ‘golden duck;’ Blaze women batting: Marie Kelly 45(32); Emma Jones: 27*not out(16); Charli Knott 27(22) Georgia Elwiss 20(21); Tammy Beaumont 15(10); Ella Claridge 13(12); Bears women bowling: Mary Taylor 3/22(4); Amu Surenkumar 2/19(3.2); Alexa Stonehouse 1/20(2);
*Match result: The Blaze (Women) 159/6 (@8.2 runs-per-over/target 159 from 19.2/20 overs) beat Warwickshire Bears (Women) 158/8 (@7.9 r-p-o from 20ov.) by four wickets with four balls remaining
*Scorecard with video highlights, courtesy of ECB via nv play at url: https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/?tab=m_scorecard#c9cd38578-5761-4c81-a024-f69ca8c04caa_me5e80000-9b94-4272-a1e3-08de2c26e08c
*Upcoming League one ‘Vitality Blast’ (20ov.) fixtures @url: http://4theloveofsport.co.uk/2025/12/17/vitality-blast-league-one-fixtures-for-2026-3-of-4/
*Upcoming League one ‘MetroBank’ (50ov.) fixtures with mid-term results @url: http://4theloveofsport.co.uk/2026/05/17/metro-bank-one-day-cup-league-one-women/
