Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Ami Campbell impressed with the bat against Gloucestershire today, contributing an entertaining 98 not out to a victory.
Ami Campbell’s destructive 98 not out off 61 balls helped Yorkshire get back to winning ways in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup as they strengthened their semi-final hopes with a thumping 150-run win over Gloucestershire at Bristol.
Left-handed Campbell boosted Yorkshire to 281-7 after her captain Maddie Ward elected to bat on a used Seat Unique Stadium pitch which took turn.
After an opening career best 61 from measured Academy captain Amelia Oliver, Campbell sent the innings into overdrive by hitting nine fours and three sixes.
In defence, Gloucestershire fell well short. They were bowled out for 131 inside 36 overs. Like Campbell, Olivia Thomas had an excellent day with 3-30 from eight overs of leg-spin, 33 with the bat and a catch.
Yorkshire’s fourth win in seven games took them to 20 points with two games remaining. They sit fourth in the table, holding the last qualifying spot. The majority of the chasing pack play tomorrow. But Gloucestershire were one of those on Yorkshire’s tails. So this was a key win, especially given it came with a bonus point and the full five points on offer.
Campbell came to the crease with the score at 111-3 after 26 overs.
Oliver had shared partnerships of 49 and 51 for the first and second wickets with Erin Thomas (22) and Rebecca Duckworth (15), who had both holed out against the seam of Alice Bird and the off-spin of home captain Liv Daniels.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Amelia Oliver, left, contributed a senior career best 61 to Yorkshire’s commanding 282-7.
Oliver was particularly eye-catching on the drive en-route to an 85-ball fifty, and her 95-ball innings included 11 boundaries in all.
She was caught behind cutting at Daniels, which brought Campbell to the crease.
It will no doubt be of minor frustration to the former Northern Diamond that she wasn’t able to reach her century in the final over. But she can reflect on some fortune as a handful of times she miscued high balls just short of – or in between – fielders.
Still, she brilliantly took advantage.
A 78-run stand with fifth-wicket partner Olivia Thomas was key in giving the innings real impetus after Ward had been trapped lbw playing forwards to Alice Hill’s off-spin – 134-4 in the 33rd over.
Thomas expertly – and busily – gave Campbell as much of the strike as she could during her 36-ball 33.
Campbell took her tally of One-Day Cup runs to 350 in seven matches this season, six innings. This was her second half-century added to a stunning career best 165 not out against Derbyshire at Derby at the start of May.
Things haven’t gone Campbell’s way in recent weeks, highlighted by her stepping on her stumps during last Saturday’s defeat to Glamorgan at Weetwood.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Olivia Thomas contributed to victory with bat, ball and in the field.
But there were signs of the 34-year-old at her very best here as she reached her fifty in 36 balls and took the White Rose to a total which was never realistically threatened.
Erin Thomas took three boundaries off seamer Bea Willis as 14 came off the opening over. Willis’s new-ball partner Caitlin Belcher was excellent for 1-25 from nine overs, including her first seven only going for 10, as Glos regained some control.
But they lost that control later on as 138 runs came off the last 15 overs.
Campbell hit nine fours added to three sixes against spin. Two were slog-swept and smashed over mid-wicket, the other hammered imperiously down the ground off Chloe Skelton’s off-spin.
Scotland seamer Rainey then gave the visitors the ideal start to their defence by bowling Meg Ahearne in her first over – 6-1 in the second.
And, following a 52-run stand between Halliday and Prarthana Reddy, Yorkshire strengthened their grip.
Olivia Thomas struck in her first over when Reddy on 23 was caught behind pushing forwards at the leg-spinner before, almost three overs later, Claudie Cooper’s off-spin had wicketkeeper-batter Katie Jones caught at mid-wicket pulling, leaving the score at 69-3 in the 16th.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Hannah Rainey made the early breakthrough for Yorkshire in defence this afternoon, claiming her first Yorkshire wicket having signed from Lancashire recently.
Gloucestershire encountered further problems when opener Halliday, going well, was run out at the striker’s end by a throw from Rainey at mid-off. Izzy Patel pushed at Thomas’s leg-spin and set off.
Gloucestershire were 79-4 in the 17th, and a Yorkshire win was now looking highly likely.
The hosts reached the 25-over mark at 104-4, needing 178 more.
But they lost wickets five and six in the space of six balls, slipping to 113-6, as Izzy Patel was caught low down at cover by Campbell off Blackwell’s seam and Willis was caught at short fine-leg off a miscue against Ria Fackrell’s off-spin.
Things were wrapped up quickly from there.
Thomas bowled Skelton for 20 with a full toss and trapped Hill lbw for a duck before Belcher and Alice Bird miscued Jess Woolston and Fackrell to mid-off, sealing a big success for the White Rose.
