Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Jess Woolston excelled with 5-45 against Middlesex today, including four early wickets as the visitors fell to 29-5 this morning.
Middlesex wicketkeeper-batter Pippa Sproul hit an excellent unbeaten 98 to recover her side from 29-5 to a total of 192-9 as Yorkshire were beaten by seven runs in today’s thrilling top-of-the-table Metro Bank One-Day Cup 2 clash at Headingley.
Yorkshire new-ball seamer Jess Woolston starred with 5-45 from 10 overs, including four of the first five wickets to fall after Maddie Ward had elected to bowl first.
But 17-year-old Sproul, who came in with the score at 26-3 after six overs, calmly turned the tide for the league leaders.
They have now beaten Yorkshire on successive Saturdays following their 10-wicket triumph in the Vitality Blast final at Wantage Road.
Sproul hit eight fours in 118 balls, her score representing a career best in senior cricket.
Yorkshire would have been satisfied with the 193-target before a ball was bowled, but not from 29-5 inside nine overs.
The White Rose then slipped to 81-4 inside 19 overs of their reply and failed to recover, bowled out for 185 in the 47th over.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Academy all-rounder Ines Blackwell had an impressive senior debut for the county.
Debutant Academy all-rounder Ines Blackwell, aged 16, top-scored with 30 from the lower middle order, while – for the visitors – leg-spinner Hannah Davis claimed 4-40 from her 10 overs and Issy Routledge’s off-spin returned 4-36 from 9.5 overs.
Woolston added 22 with the bat but was the last batter out.
Blackwell’s impressive debut also included a wicket with her seamers.
This was Yorkshire’s second defeat in five matches, with leaders Middlesex winning all five so far. With four matches remaining, Yorkshire are well placed for semi-finals cricket at the start of next month. But there is still work to do.
Early on, Woolston – 22-years-old – uprooted off-stump twice as opener Routledge and Natasha Miles fell. She then trapped captain Saskia Horley lbw and had Finty Trussler caught behind.
Woolston was devastating as she angled the ball back into the right-hander, something Academy debutant Ines Blackwell did when she bowled Artemis Downer with one that swung a long way.
Teenager Sproul then shared partnerships of 43 for the sixth wicket with Gaya Gole (20) and 53 for the ninth with Sarah Pearson (11).
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com – 02/08/2025 – Cricket – Metro Bank One Day Cup Women League 2 – Yorkshire Women v Middlesex Women – Headingley Cricket Ground, Leeds, England – Middlesex’s Pippa Sproul hits out against Yorkshire.
In hitting eight boundaries, she capitalised on anything short and later showed invention, ramping Woolston for her last four.
She reached her fifty off 78 balls and was full of intelligence, guiding the tail on a ground where the boundaries were pushed right out.
Four of their last five batters all reached double figures, with number 11 Rachana Cambampaty finishing two not out.
In the end, six of the nine Middlesex wickets which fell were bowled.
Off-spinner Claudie Cooper removed Gole that way, leggie Olivia Thomas breaching the defences of Davis too.
Woolston’s fifth wicket came when she bowled Katie Wolfe with another angled in – 130-8 in the 36th over.
She then had a hand in the run out of Pearson, who was caught short at the striker’s end as Sproul looked to pinch a quick single into the covers to retain strike for the next over late on.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Ria Fackrell sweeps on the way to 22 late in the day as Yorkshire tried desperately to chase 193.
Woolston fielded the ball and threw to wicketkeeper Ward.
Sproul started the last over of the innings on 92 and could only hit a trio of twos, narrowly missing out on a deserved century.
Despite the Middlesex recovery, Yorkshire were able to maintain their discipline, conceding only 10 extras in the innings.
Blackwell finished with 1-39 from 10 overs, Olivia Thomas 1-38 from the same number. Cooper returned 1-23 from nine and fellow off-spinner Ria Fackrell bowled eight overs for 26.
Yorkshire’s reply started confidently, as Erin Thomas and Amelia Oliver shared 38 inside 10 overs.
Unfortunately, though, Oliver being run out for 17 trying to pinch a single to mid-on was the first of five wickets to fall for 48 as the score slipped to 86-5 in the 23rd.
Thomas was next to go when she miscued a return catch to Davis before Ward caught caught behind one-handed by a diving Sproul off a top-edged sweep, leaving the score 81-3 in the 19th over.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Jess Woolston didn’t deserve to be on the losing side today.
Two balls later, Ami Campbell drilled the same bowler to mid-off.
The fifth Yorkshire batter to fall was Rebecca Duckworth, who was bowled by Davis playing back to one which kept low.
Blackwell and Olivia Thomas then shared 33 for the sixth wicket to steady things.
But the latter was trapped lbw by the off-spin of Routledge as she shuffled across her stumps and tried to work to leg – 119-6 in the 32nd.
Blackwell and Fackrell then shared 32 to take the target below 50. The former hit a quartet of boundaries before being stumped by Sproul off Cambampaty’s left-arm spin, leaving Yorkshire at 151-7 in the 38th over.
Fackrell made it to 22, but was then one of two wickets to fall in three balls to Routledge as the score fell to 172-9 in the 45th. She was caught at mid-off and Cooper at cover.
Woolston tried her best to recover the situation, and did get things close. But she was bowled by Routledge to hand Middlesex the four points.
