Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Lauren Winfield-Hill en-route to her half-century at Headingley today.
Half-centuries from skipper Lauren Winfield-Hill and Sterre Kalis were not enough as Yorkshire women were denied a victory by Essex Women in a Metro Bank One-Day Cup thriller at Headingley.
Winfield-Hill’s brilliant 88 off 73 balls set up a seesaw run chase after Essex had posted a competitive total of 270-8, with Kalis 65 not out off 60 as Yorkshire fell an agonising 14 runs short in a game they will have felt was theirs for the taking.
In the end, they were bowled out for 257 inside 47 overs, slipping to their third defeat in six matches, a run which has included two wins and a tie.
Before the match, there was the encouraging sighting of England leg-spinning all-rounder Sarah Glenn warming up with her new team-mates as she nears full fitness following a broken finger suffered in the winter.
Winning the toss and electing to field, Yorkshire’s bowlers initially found the going tough as opening pair Grace Scrivens and Cordelia Griffith shared 95 inside 19 overs.
Off-spinner Claudie Cooper, one of two White Rose bowlers who struck twice – alongside Rachel Slater, made the initial breakthrough when she tempted Scrivens down the pitch and saw her hole out at mid-on for 36.
The spinners were keeping things tight, but Essex looked comfortable reaching 125-1 at the halfway point, with a big total possible.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Lauren Winfield-Hill congratulates Claudie Cooper on dismissing Essex’s Grace Scrivens for one of the off-spinner’s two wickets.
Credit then to Cooper, who shrugged off being hit for six over mid-wicket by Griffith and dismissed the opener soon after as she slapped one to a grateful Jess Woolston at midwicket for 69 – the highest score of an Eagles’ innings which was eventually pegged back from what it could have been.
That left the score at 145-2 after 29 overs before Ariana Dowse and new England all-rounder Jodi Grewcock did maintain the scoring rate.
But when Dowse top-edged Ines Blackwell to Maddie Ward, in the point region, for a well-made 43, the score fell to 190-3 in the 39th.
That was when Yorkshire really came back into things.
The next three wickets were bizarre in the extreme, as Essex attempted to press the accelerator, only to lose three consecutive batters to run outs thanks to fine pieces of fielding from Kalis, Ami Campbell and a fingertip onto the stumps by Cooper, the latter to dismiss non-striker Flo Miller.
All that left Essex 240-6 with five overs remaining, and Slater picked up her two wickets late on to cap a useful fightback.
Credit should also go to Blackwell, whose medium pace accounted for 1-54 from 10 overs, while Ward’s spin was particularly miserly – 0-32 from her full allocation.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Rachel Slater struck twice with her left-arm swing.
Yorkshire began their chase in exciting fashion, with Winfield-Hill looking her imperious best as the captain took the battle to the Essex bowlers. In all, she hit 15 fours and a pulled six over mid-wicket – off the left-arm spin of Sophia Smale.
The skipper, batting against the team she spent time on loan with last summer for T20, hit Esmae MacGregor for three consecutive boundaries in the unfortunate bowler’s first over after seeing off the opening pair.
And her half-century came up in just the 11th over, off 40 balls and featured 11 boundaries.
But soon after, the opening partnership of 75 was broken when Georgie Boyce was well caught by Jo Gardner off MacGregor for 17.
A century looked odds on for Winfield-Hill, and it was a blow when she mistimed a drive to Scrivens off Eva Gray’s seam to leave Yorkshire 142-3 in the 25th over
Ami Campbell was quickly bowled by Gray for six, and suddenly Yorkshire were wobbling after their good start, with 16-year-old Blackwell joining in-form Dutch international Kalis at the crease.
Kalis counter-attacked, and the fifth-wicket pair brought up their 50 partnership in the 35th over to steady the ship. Unfortunately, that ship was to hit choppier waters.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Sarah Glenn is closing in on a return to fitness and her Yorkshire debut. She was with the squad at Headingley today.
Blackwell fell to a leading edge off Gray for 21 before Kalis reached her fifty off 45 balls, including a hoisted six over long-on off Gardner’s spin.
With Kalis there, it looked as if Yorkshire would get home.
But Ward was run out, and when Beth Langston departed for two – caught at cover off Smale, 227-7 in the 41st over – things were starting to get very tense.
Unfortunately, another run out accounted for Slater, and Essex became favourites following a stunning catch at backward point from Grewcock off Kate Coppack’s seam to remove Cooper, leaving the hosts 256-9 in the 46th over.
Grewcock’s leg-spin then bowled Woolston for one to seal victory for her side and leave Yorkshire wondering what might have been.
Yorkshire are next in action a week on Wednesday, against Hampshire at York CC.
