Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. L-R. Rebecca Duckworth, Sterre Kalis, Ami Campbell, Jessica Woolston and Grace Hall celebrate with the Metro Bank One-Day Cup trophy after victory over Glamorgan at New Road in September.
Yorkshire’s women enjoyed a trophy-winning Tier 2 campaign, triumphant in the 50-over Metro Bank One-Day Cup. They also reached the final of the Vitality Blast and the quarter-finals of the other T20 competition, the Vitality County Cup.
Through the first half of the winter, we have be running a series of articles with members’ player-of-the-year Ami Campbell, who has been reflecting on key moments throughout the summer.
We have entitled this series ‘Campbell’s Classics’.
In this last article of the series, we look back to the fabulous final victory over Glamorgan at Worcester’s New Road, a game which sealed Metro Bank One-Day Cup glory.
We could write a whole series of articles on this day alone, with Yorkshire hammering Glamorgan by nine wickets in a rain-affected Metro Bank One-Day Cup final at New Road in mid-September.
The White Rose set out in their only Tier 2 season with a weight of expectation on the shoulders, more so from outside of Headingley. With a host of full-time contracted players, the view was that silverware had to be achieved.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Yorkshire’s players and coaches celebrate with the silverware at Worcester.
After the mid-season disappointment of the Vitality Blast final against Middlesex, Lauren Winfield-Hill and co bounced back brilliantly.
This 50-over final was reduced down to a 20-overs per side affair at the start of the day given the dreadful forecast later in the day at Worcester.
And it was the right choice as, almost immediately after the presentation ceremony was completed, the heavens opened.
In truth, Yorkshire won this at a canter as they chased a total of 128 with 8.4 overs to spare.
There were contributors aplenty.
Leg-spinner Olivia Thomas claimed 3-14 from her four overs to limit the Welsh side, who had beaten Yorkshire at Weetwood in the group stages, to 127-5.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Olivia Thomas was sensational with the ball in the final, returning 3-14 from four overs of leg-spin to claim the player-of-the-match award.
Glamorgan had gotten off to a bright start on a grey day, with openers Lauren Parfitt (29) and Abbey Freeborn (41) sharing 50 inside six overs after captain Winfield-Hill had invited them to bat.
From there, it was one way traffic, with Winfield-Hill and unbeaten Erin Thomas hitting 62 apiece. They shared a destructive 127 opening stand in 11.2 overs before the winning run came courtesy of a wide.
“What a day that was,” said a beaming Ami Campbell.
“Do you know what, we were just right on the money that day.
“In terms of bowling, even though there were a few dropped catches, we just didn’t let them get away from us after the powerplay.
“Lauren Parfitt batted really well at the start, but as soon as we got her and then Abbey, who I always thought was going to be the main threat for them, we felt very confident.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Lauren Winfield-Hill and Erin Thomas shared 127 for the first wicket, all but sealing victory.
“Liv was obviously unbelievable that day, again, as she was all summer really.
“It was just a good, all-round performance.”
“We’d worked really hard to get ourselves into that position.
“We’d worked hard to back ourselves, with the Blast not going our way. Sometimes you can lose big games and they can just really knock your confidence and things can kind of spiral into losing more games.
“But we trained so hard to turn things around and try and make sure that kind of thing didn’t happen again.
“Rich Pyrah has been great with pushing that sort of mentality, and he’s done some great things with our group this year.”
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Rachel Slater and assistant coach Chris Brice watch on as victory edges closer.
While one Thomas in Olivia claimed the player-of-the-match award after the final, another Thomas in Erin ran her so close courtesy of posting a career best 62 not out at the perfect time.
“I’m so proud of the girls, and so proud of Erin,” added Campbell.
“She had quite a tricky start to the year, but she ended it brilliantly.
“She’s been amazing ever since we brought Kevin Sharp to do some coaching work with the batters.
“He’s such a great fellow and a fountain of knowledge.”
