Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Olivia Thomas
Yorkshire are the Tier 2 Metro Bank One-Day Cup champions after beating Glamorgan by nine wickets in a 20-over final at Visit Worcestershire Road this afternoon.
Olivia Thomas starred with 3-14 from four overs before Lauren Winfield-Hill and unbeaten opening partner Erin Thomas crashed 62 apiece as the White Rose ended the summer in style with silverware.
The county’s first trophy of the professional era came as they limited Glamorgan to 127-5 at an overcast New Road before chasing comfortably.
Yorkshire bounced back superbly from losing the Vitality Blast final to Middlesex in late July and head into Tier 1 in confident mood ahead of 2026.
Captain Winfield-Hill and Thomas shared a 127-run opening partnership in 11.2 overs before the former drilled a catch to mid-on off Gemma Porter’s off-spin.
Thomas picked the perfect time to post her career best score in senior cricket, and both her and Winfield-Hill posted their second fifties in three innings.
With poor weather forecast later in the day for the Worcester area, both sides agreed to play a 20-over contest from 10.30am in favour of potentially sharing the trophy.
Picture by Matt Lewis/Getty Images. Lauren Winfield-Hill celebrates her fifty today amidst a destructive chase.
On-loan Bears wicketkeeper-batter Abbey Freeborn top-scored with an opening 41 off 50 balls for a Glamorgan side who will follow Yorkshire into Tier 1 in 2027. But she just didn’t gain enough support and fell as one of Thomas’s trio of scalps just when looking to attack in the closing stages of the innings.
Glamorgan made a bright start thanks to openers Freeborn and her captain Lauren Parfitt, the latter who made the early running with two boundaries in the opening over off Beth Langston – one cut, the other drilled down the ground.
Those two shared 50 inside six overs before Parfitt – on 29 – top-edged a pull at Hannah Rainey’s seam behind to Winfield-Hill.
And when Olivia Thomas also struck in her first over, like Rainey had done, Yorkshire had settled with Glamorgan now 52-2 in the seventh. Thomas’s leg-spin had Emily Burke caught at deep mid-wicket without scoring.
Yorkshire then squeezed impressively. Bethan Ellis was run out as she drove Maddie Ward’s spin to mid-off, set off for the single but couldn’t make it following an Olivia Thomas throw – 69-3 in the 11th.
Glamorgan reached the 15-over mark at 93-3 with Freeborn looming as a danger on 37.
But she was ousted by the excellent Thomas, who struck twice in the 17th over, also bowling Bethan Gammon for 21. Gammon was first to go having stepped across her stumps in a bid to play to leg before Freeborn fell sweeping at the googly, leaving the score at 105-5.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Lauren Winfield-Hill celebrates the dismissal of Beth Gammon, bowled by Olivia Thomas.
Olivia Thomas was superb, especially considering she bowled four separate one-over spells. This was some way to celebrate the signing of her maiden rookie professional contract back at Headingley last week.
From there, the Welsh county were scrambling and finished below where they would have expected given the start they made, although they did benefit from a couple of dropped catches.
While Thomas stood out with the ball and Rainey took the other wicket, Jess Woolston impressed with 0-21 from her four overs.
With rain around, winning the toss was always going to be an important task.
And, having done that and taken a catch behind, Winfield-Hill set about the chase in confident fashion.
She took 10 off the opening over from off-spinner Gemma Porter, including two boundaries, and thankfully there was no looking back.
Winfield-Hill swept, pulled and revers swept boundaries as she reached 31 out of 41-0 from five overs – enough to constitute a result should the rain arrive.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. A general view Visit Worcestershire New Road today.
By now, the direction of this contest was fairly obvious, with the White Rose a long way ahead of the Duckworth Lewis Stern par score.
But the weather didn’t intervene, and as far as Yorkshire were concerned the sun shone brightly.
Winfield-Hill and Erin Thomas certainly made hay.
Thomas hoisted Ellis’s seam over mid-wicket for the first two sixes in the match as the scored moved to 75-0 in the eighth over.
And when Winfield-Hill reached her fifty off 27 balls in the next, Yorkshire were 85-0 after eight.
In all, Winfield-Hill hit 12 fours in 36 balls and Thomas eight fours and three sixes in 32 balls.
The win was secured with a Porter wide.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Erin Thomas was outstanding with an unbeaten 62 – her career best score.
