Picture by Josh Bowles Media/Kent Cricket. Lauren Winfield-Hill celebrates reaching her century at Canterbury today.
Lauren Winfield-Hill scored a stunning, record-breaking 194 as Yorkshire beat Kent at Canterbury by 279 runs today to qualify for the semi-finals of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
Opener Winfield-Hill’s 126-ball effort with 34 fours and one six represents the highest ever individual List A score by a White Rose women’s or men’s player. She underpinned the county’s 404-5 total, which they comfortably defended.
With Kent bowled out for 125 inside 35 overs in reply, Yorkshire’s fifth win from nine games, this with the maximum of five points, was enough to seal fourth place in the table and a place in next weekend’s last four.
The White Rose county will face group winners Middlesex, likely to be at Radlett on Sunday, for a place in the 50-over final.
Olivia Thomas’s leg-spin accounted for 3-22 from five overs in the home chase, while Jess Woolston, Claudie Cooper and Ria Fackrell all struck twice.
Records tumbled at the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, where Winfield-Hill’s fabulous career best innings was supplemented by 54 for Erin Thomas and 69 not out for Maddie Ward. Both were season’s best scores, Ward’s a career best.
Winfield-Hill’s innings topped Darren Lehmann’s 191 for Yorkshire’s men against Nottinghamshire at Scarborough in 2001. Salliann Briggs previously held the record for the highest White Rose women’s score, 177 against Cheshire in 2006.
Yorkshire’s total was also their highest in List A cricket. The men and women have now topped 400 once apiece in this format, the men still holding the overall record with 411-6 v Devon in 2004.
Yorkshire needed to win this match with a bonus point, which they obviously did, to assure themselves of a place in the semi-finals. They also had eyes on the results of chasers Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, which didn’t matter in the end.
With Yorkshire’s innings approaching 300, Winfield-Hill actually asked the umpires could they declare the innings given the threat of afternoon rain. They were told, ‘No’.
The club captain, back from Hundred duty with the Oval Invincibles, shared a second-wicket stand of 164 with Erin Thomas from 41-1 in the eighth over after Olivia Thomas – promoted to open – had edged a drive at Alice Grant’s seam to gully.
Winfield-Hill also shared 110 for the third wicket with vice captain Ward from 205-2 in the 25th over.
The record-breaker was strong all around the wicket in playing a plethora of eye-catching strokes. She hit beautifully down the ground and was both powerful and inventive against seam and spin.
Winfield-Hill’s century came in 71 balls, by which time the visitors were 171-1 in the 22nd and in full control against a Kent side who had lost seven of their previous eight group games.
Yorkshire opted to open with Olivia Thomas instead of namesake Erin, whose move down to three brought the reward of a first fifty of the season.
That was reached in 44 balls and was powerful, whereas Ward’s 63-ball effort was more inventive late in the innings which saw Winfield-Hill take five boundaries off one over from the seam of Ella Darlington.
With the threat of rain, Yorkshire had to get through 10 overs of the Kent chase to assure a result, which they did comfortably.
In that time, Beth Langston trapped Amy Gordon lbw – 32-1 in the seventh over – to push the Duckworth Lewis target up.
Kent would have needed to be 60-0 after 10 overs to win.
From there, the White Rose turned the screw.
Olivia Thomas struck twice with her leg-spin in the 16th over, getting the other opener Megan Sturge brilliantly caught one-handed at cover by Erin Thomas going to her right for 31 and Elsa Barnfather caught at slip as Kent slipped to 74-3.
At that stage, Yorkshire’s place in the semi-finals was looking safe, and so it proved.
Spin continued to thrive, with two wickets falling to off-spin in the space of five balls – 103-5 in the 26th over.
Cooper struck first when she had Darlington lbw sweeping before Coco Streets jammed Fackrell to point.
And there was further success in the next over with the score on 105 when Cooper had Jodie Hobson lbw pushing forwards.
Jess Woolston then bowled a scooping Kent captain Megan Belt before Fackrell trapped Zeena Patel lbw, the score now 121-8 in the 32nd over.
Izzy James then pulled Thomas to mid-wicket before Alice Grant edged Woolston behind to seal the visiting side’s progression thanks to a fifth win in nine group games, each of them achieved with a bonus point.
