Middlesex Women are back in Vitality Blast action tomorrow, taking on Kent at Radlett Cricket Club as they look to make it three wins from three in the competition.
Head Coach, Marc Broom, has named a squad of 13 for the contest, featuring six changes from the side that secured a thrilling win over Glamorgan last time out. Artemis Downer, Gaya Gole, Georgia Irving, and Katie Wolfe all return, while Rachana Cambampaty and Anisha Dissanayake are included in a T20 squad for the first time this season.
Middlesex come into the contest unbeaten, having made a perfect start to their Blast campaign with victories over Sussex Sharks at Lord’s, and Glamorgan at Merchant Taylors’ School. The latter proved a tense, low-scoring affair, as Middlesex emerged victorious by four wickets in the final over.
After electing to bowl first, they made early inroads, as Lauren Turner bowled Glamorgan captain, Lauren Parfitt, with the final ball of the first over, before Sonali Patel followed up with a wicket from her first delivery. It set the tone for a dominant bowling display, with wickets shared across the attack as Glamorgan were dismissed for 77 in 17.2 overs. Patel was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with excellent figures of 2/9 from her four overs.
Despite chasing a modest target, Middlesex found themselves under pressure against a disciplined Glamorgan bowling attack. With four runs needed from the final over and five wickets in hand, Sonali Patel was dismissed, bringing Anaya Patel to the crease with three balls remaining. A leg bye crucially got Saskia Horley back on strike, and our skipper calmly struck the penultimate delivery to the boundary to seal a dramatic four-wicket win.
Tomorrow’s visitors, Kent, will be playing their first match of the Vitality Blast. However, they’ve already impressed in the 20-over format, having reached the quarter-finals of the Vitality T20 Women’s County Cup. That run included a five-wicket win over Middlesex at Radlett in the first round of the competition. That remains Middlesex’s only defeat of the season thus far, in which Kent chased down the required 137 with 12 balls to spare. They followed that up with dominant victories over Tier Three teams, Berkshire and Cambridgeshire, before falling to Tier One side and 2024 Charlotte Edwards Cup champions, The Blaze.
This will be the third of four meetings between the two sides this season, with one win apiece so far – Middlesex taking the points in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup opener, and Kent responding in the County Cup.
MIDDLESEX SQUAD V KENT
Play gets underway at 14:30 at Radlett, with free entry for all. It would be great to see as many supporters as possible cheering the team on as they aim to extend their unbeaten run in the Blast, and remain at the top of the table.
If you can’t join us in person, the match will be live streamed on the Club’s website and YouTube channel, with full coverage available via the Match Centre.
Middlesex Women
Kent Women
