Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com. Sterre Kalis, back from her loan spell with the Bears, top-scored with 65 not out in Yorkshire’s successful chase of 195 today.
Yorkshire are through to next Sunday’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup final at Worcester after beating high-flying Middlesex by six wickets chasing 195 in today’s semi-final at Radlett.
The White Rose side will face Glamorgan at New Road next Sunday having bowled table-toppers Middlesex out for 194 before chasing with room to spare thanks to Sterre Kalis’s 65 not out off 79 balls with 10 fours.
This was a hard-working innings but became dominant towards the end, with victory secured in the 39th over.
This was very much a case of good things come to those who wait as Yorkshire have previously been beaten twice by Middlesex this season, once in the group stages of this competition and once in the final of the Vitality Blast.
Middlesex finished top of this 50-over competition’s group stage having won nine from nine. But, against a Yorkshire side who finished fourth, they were on the back foot immediately.
The visitors were excellent with the ball at the start of the Middlesex innings and at the end on a sluggish pitch which proved hard to score freely.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com. Beth Langston was excellent for two wickets today, bowling her 10 overs straight through with the new ball.
Inserted, Middlesex fell to 37-4 in 12 overs thanks to two wickets apiece for seamers Beth Langston and Hannah Rainey before a recovery saw them reach 181-5 in the 43rd over, their captain Saskia Horley excellent for 83 off 100 balls.
However, they fell away badly at the end, losing their last five wickets for 13 runs inside five overs, with Ria Fackrell’s off-spin accounting for two of them.
New-ball seamer Langston bowled her 10 overs straight through, 2-39.
She had openers Issy Routledge and Artemis Downer, both playing loosely outside off-stump, caught behind before Scot Rainey had Finty Trussler caught in the covers off a miscue and Pippa Sproul caught behind by skipper Lauren Winfield-Hill. They both fell in the 12th over.
Horley was a calming influence on an innings which could easily have subsided.
Strong on the pull and down the ground, she shared 51 for the fifth wicket with Riva Pindoria and 93 for the sixth with Gaya Gole, who also contributed an unbeaten 48.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com. Ria Fackrell’s off-spin accounted for two late wickets.
Pindoria offered off-spinner Claudie Cooper a simple return catch – 88-5 in the 26th over.
Yorkshire wobbled in the field at this point, and they will want to avoid conceding 20 wides again when they face Glamorgan next weekend. But they came back superbly at the end to put the skids under the fightback during a pleasant Hertfordshire day.
Horley pulled Olivia Thomas’s leg-spin to backward square-leg, leaving the score on 181-6 in the 43rd over, before the end of the innings arrived quickly.
Fackrell had Anaya Patel caught one-handed over her head at mid-wicket by Ami Campbell following a leading edge and Katie Wolfe caught behind off a top-edge to end the innings in the 48th over. Winfield-Hill claimed her fourth catch with the gloves.
Sandwiched in between, there were two run outs to return the definite advantage to Yorkshire.
The White Rose did lose Olivia Thomas at the start of the chase – caught behind defending against Pearson’s seam – 4-1 in the second over.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Erin Thomas was aggressive at the start of Yorkshire’s chase.
But Erin Thomas settled quickly, hitting seven boundaries as she reached 31.
Thomas demonstrated a mixture of power and precision, with Yorkshire advancing to 51-1 in the ninth over.
But, just after Thomas and Winfield-Hill had brought up their 50 partnership, both fell to spin as the score slipped to 55-3 in the 11th.
A cutting Winfield-Hill was caught behind against opposite number Horley’s off-spin for 16 before, three balls later, Thomas was stumped trying to attack the other off-spinner Patel.
Kalis, back from her Tier 1 loan spell with the Bears to play, and Maddie Ward then had to soak up some pressure created by spin.
They took the score to 78-3 after 20 overs and 89-3 after 25 overs, both offering chances early in their innings which the hosts failed to take. Kalis on 13 to mid-off against the leg-spin of Hannah Davis was the easiest of them.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Maddie Ward shared a half-century stand with Sterre Kalis to help get Yorkshire over the line.
That felt like a key moment, and so it proved.
Despite the drop, Kalis hit strongly down the ground. Ward did likewise but was inventive too as they shared 67.
When Ward hoisted Horley to deep mid-wicket – 122-4 in the 33rd over – Yorkshire needed 73.
But Kalis kicked on and had success with the sweep shot, hitting three more boundaries in quick succession to close in on a fifty.
By the time the Netherlands international got there, off 71 balls with eight fours, Yorkshire were 162-4 in the 37th over. The hard work had been done, now she was dominating.
And, for Middlesex, there was now no way back as they tasted defeat for the first time in this season’s competition. Campbell helped to finish things off with a typically belligerent 34 not out off 18 balls with six fours. She shared an unbroken 73 with Kalis, who hit the winning runs.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Ami Campbell helped finish the game quickly and take Yorkshire to the final next weekend.
