Middlesex Women’s season came to an end yesterday, after a six-wicket defeat to Yorkshire in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup semi-final at Radlett Cricket Club.
Put into bat, Middlesex’s found themselves 50/4 after 15 overs, before recovering through Saskia Horley, who posted 83, producing a crucial 93-run partnership with Gaya Gole who finished unbeaten on 48. After 47.2 overs, however, the final wicket fell as we were all out for 194.
With the ball, early breakthroughs saw Yorkshire reach 60/3 after 15 overs. From there, however, wickets proved harder to come by, and a few missed opportunities in the field allowed the visitors to post 195/4 inside 39 overs.
Much like our previous two meetings with Yorkshire, they won the toss, this time electing to bowl first, taking advantage of the favourable conditions. Our openers, Issy Routledge and Artemis Downer, struggled against the likes of Beth Langston and Jess Woolston, both falling within the first powerplay, as Langston found the outside edge twice and Middlesex found themselves 32/2 after 10 overs.
A 27-run third-wicket stand between Finty Trussler and Horley steadied the innings, before two more quick wickets fell to the bowling of Hannah Rainey, bringing Riva Pindoria to the crease. She went onto produce a 51-run partnership with the skipper, as the pair guided us to 88/4 by the halfway mark.
Two balls later, however, Pindoria was dismissed for 17, caught & bowled by Claudie Cooper, as Horley continued the rebuilding process alongside Gole. She reached her half-century off 65 balls in a proper captain’s knock, before being eventually caught for 83 off Olivia Thomas’ bowling in the 43rd over.
Excluding last week’s rain-reduced clash against Worcestershire, when Horley finished unbeaten on 32, yesterday marked the third successive match in which she has exceeded 50 runs.
Gole held firm, but Yorkshire tore through our bottom order, as Ria Fackrell took two wickets to see us all out for 194.
In defence, Sarah Pearson made the breakthrough with her second ball, having Olivia Thomas caught behind by Pippa Sproul for 1. The second-wicket stand between Winfield-Hill and Erin Thomas, however, proved harder to break – the pair adding 51 runs before Horley took the wicket of Winfield-Hill, caught behind by Sproul for 16, with the final ball of the first powerplay, leaving the visitors 55/2.
Anaya Patel also made her mark, the fourteen-year-old taking a crucial wicket with her third ball of the day, as Erin Thomas was stumped for 38 off 33 deliveries.
The subsequent partnership between Sterre Kalis and Maddie Ward, however, allowed Yorkshire’s momentum to build, as they reached 112/3 inside 30 overs – 84 needed to win.
Horley proved instrumental yet again, breaking the 67-run stand as Ward was caught by Downer for 37. Kalis, now joined by Ami Campbell, continued to find runs though, increasing the strike-rate as the visitors edged closer to the target.
That partnership amassed 73 runs, Campbell finishing unbeaten on 34, while Kalis struck the winning run to also finish unbeaten on 65, as Yorkshire won by six wickets in 38.5 overs.
As a result, Middlesex’s unbeaten Metro Bank One-Day Cup run, and our first season as a Tier Two side has come to a close, unable to complete the triple over the soon-to-be Tier One team.
Middlesex Women
Yorkshire Women
