Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Jess Jonassen claimed 2-23 from her four overs of left-arm spin.
Yorkshire v Essex
Vitality Blast, Women
Friday, May 29, 2026, 6.30pm
Headingley
Toss: Essex won it and elected to bat
Teams: Yorkshire – Lauren Winfield-Hill c/w, Erin Thomas, Jess Jonassen, Sterre Kalis, Ami Campbell, Maddie Ward, Olivia Thomas, Beth Langston, Ines Blackwell, Ria Fackrell, Holly Garton.
Essex – Grace Scrivens c, Lissy Macleod, Cordelia Griffith, Jodi Grewcock, Jo Gardner, Flo Miller, Sophia Smale, Amara Carr w, Eva Gray, Esmae MacGregor, Kate Coppack.
Match summary: It was another case of ‘so near, yet so far’ as Yorkshire came agonisingly close to claiming a first victory of their Vitality Blast campaign but could not get over the line.
Good middle overs with the ball had seen the hosts restrict Essex to 146-7, with Jess Jonassen especially impressive for 2-23 from four overs of left-arm spin.
But the target could have been even less had Yorkshire taken their catches.
With the bat, they required eight off the final over but lost their final two wickets within three balls to fall to 143 all out. They will rue not hitting enough boundaries or being sharper between the wickets.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Lauren Winfield-Hill and her side played their part in a fabulous T20 fixture under the Headingley lights.
Report: Essex won a thrilling contest by just three runs with three balls remaining to claim a second victory.
The defeat leaves Yorkshire still searching for a win after four games.
Essex got off to a flyer, making their way to 60-0 in the eighth over due mainly to Grace Scrivens, who struck five boundaries with some powerful hitting down the ground. She finished with 53 off 40 balls.
Yorkshire had no answer, until the introduction of Holly Garton, with the leg-spinner bowling Lissy Macleod around her legs for 22.
One wicket quickly became two when Jess Jonassen trapped Cordelia Griffith in front first ball to leave the visitors 61-2.
Scrivens brought up her half-century off 38 balls in the 12th over.
But a brilliant piece of wicketkeeping from Lauren Winfield-Hill, which saw the skipper grab a low outside edge off Scrivens’ bat, helped dismiss the opener and hand Ria Fackrell her first wicket.
At 88-3, Essex had a solid base to go on the attack, but they stalled when Jo Gardner holed out to Ami Campbell at deep mid-wicket off Maddie Ward’s spin for one.
Yorkshire’s tails were up, and a superb direct hit from an onrushing Campbell accounted for Flo Miller for two as she attempted a risky second.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Ami Campbell tried to mix power with invention at Headingley this evening.
With Essex stuttering on 97-5, Sophia Smale injected some momentum with two boundaries off Garton in the 16th. But the loss of the set Jodi Grewcock for 26 after tamely hitting an Ines Blackwell delivery to Beth Langston at mid-on put the breaks on yet again.
Jonassen finished things off by trapping Smale lbw in the final over for an 18-ball 21, and Yorkshire were left the happier at the interval with Essex not reaching 150.
The home side needed a good start, and they got one with Winfield-Hill and Erin Thomas putting on a quick-fire 25 before Thomas skied a Smale delivery to Macleod for 17.
With two of their best batters at the crease, Yorkshire hopes were high.
But Winfield-Hill’s progress was halted when she was bowled by one that kept low from the off-spin of Scrivens for 18, leaving the host’s fortunes resting on the shoulders of Jonassen and Sterre Kalis.
The pair had taken the score to 66 when the Australian all-rounder was bowled by Scrivens for 10, with 68 runs required off the final 10 overs with seven wickets left.
The fourth-wicket partnership between Kalis and Ward felt crucial, but only 22 runs were added before the former was caught at cover by Scrivens for 23 as Smale claimed a second wicket.
Ward made 19 before she was caught trying to up the rate with 43 runs required – 105-5 in the 16th over.
A four followed by a six from Campbell off Scrivens’ last over made things interesting, and suddenly Yorkshire required 26 off three overs and then 14 off two.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Grace Scrivens stood out with the bat for Essex.
Campbell fell for 26 off the first ball of Eva Gray’s penultimate over, and Langston was out two balls later to leave Yorkshire 134-7 before a boundary and another wicket saw Olivia Thomas caught behind.
Gray finished with 3-25.
Nine was required off the last over from the leg-spin of Grewcock, with a run out off the second ball before Fackrell hit a boundary only to be stumped next delivery as Essex claimed the victory.
Magic moment: Ami Campbell produced a superb direct-hit run out as she bounded in from deep mid-wicket and left Flo Miller yards short – Essex 97-5 in the 15th over.
Turning point: The loss of three wickets – Ami Campbell, Beth Langston and Olivia Thomas – in the 19th over, bowled by seamer Eva Gray, cost Yorkshire the chance to gain the 14 runs they needed off the last two.
Stat of the match: Ami Campbell, who impressed with the bat and in the field, hit the only six of the game.
What they said: Yorkshire’s Sterre Kalis – “We’re very disappointed, and for 80 percent of the game we were probably in a position to win it and should’ve done.
“We were sloppy in the field again, and ones became twos. In the end, we lost wickets cheaply. When you play against good teams, you can’t afford to play like that.
“We’ve done quite a bit well. But, being so close to the win, we need to be a smarter with how we play. That is something we need to learn, and now we have a few days away from cricket to reflect on things we do well and things that we don’t do well.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Yorkshire head coach Rich Pyrah watches on against Essex this evening.
“It comes a bit from experience. But, when you play against good teams like Essex, you can’t get away with being sloppy and you make it harder for yourself.
“We probably should’ve won, and we all know that. We’re just disappointed.”
What’s next: Yorkshire host Durham at Headingley on Friday afternoon, from 3pm, as part of a double header T20 day with the White Rose men, who face Lancashire in the evening (7pm). It will all be played out in front of the Sky TV cameras.
