Centurion Hollie Armitage reflected on a bittersweet day in the North East as the Diamonds were beaten by Southern Vipers in today’s Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy clash.
The region’s captain fantastic amassed a superb 106 not out off 107 balls, but it just wasn’t quite enough as the Vipers, defending a target of 262, won by three runs at South Northumberland CC in Gosforth.
Georgia Elwiss defended nine off the last over, including five off the last ball – with Armitage on strike, to secure victory for her side.
The Diamonds have three games remaining in which to keep alive their title defence. They are sixth place in the table, needing to get in the top three.
Armitage, who hit her second career List A hundred, said: “It’s not the same, getting a ton and losing, especially when you do get so close.
“It was nice to do that, but the win or the loss is more important than individual achievement for me.
“It was a tough loss, but I thought the fight the girls showed in the field was very good, especially having them one down for 150. They were on to get a really big total of 300 plus, but we took wickets and held them back.
“That took some momentum into the second innings, but it happens in games like that you sometimes do fall short.
“Credit to Emma (Marlow), Rebecca (Duckworth) and Leah (Dobson) for sticking in and building partnerships.
“But if we can move on, do those skills for a little bit longer, and have bigger partnerships – because 50 overs is long especially after we’ve been involved in The Hundred – that’s where we could have probably won that game.
“Getting so close hurts at the minute, but we gave it really good shot.
The Diamonds are back in action on Sunday when they face the Western Storm at Taunton.
That, ironically, was the scene of Armitage’s maiden List A century last September in a big win.
A repeat would do just nicely.
