Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Hannah Rainey bowls Bex Odgers with the first ball of the match today, setting Yorkshire on their way to an impressive victory.
Yorkshire snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in their latest Metro Bank One-Day Cup clash against Somerset – by five runs – after losing their last five wickets for just four runs on a dramatic day at Headingley.
Winning the toss and bowling on an overcast morning in Leeds, Hannah Rainey took 3-16 off five overs, including a wicket with the first ball of the match, before Jess Woolston and Sarah Glenn also claimed three wickets as the visitors were bowled out for just 130.
But, as good as that bowling display was, it could not disguise the fact that this was a game Yorkshire were nailed on to win until four wickets fell with the Yorkshire score stuck on 121 and then the 10th on 125 as Somerset pulled off a smash and grab effort that ensured they still have a chance of qualifying for the knock-out stages of the competition.
Yorkshire got off to the best possible start when Bex Odgers inexplicably left Rainey’s first delivery of the match, only to see it cannon into middle stump.
Rainey’s hot streak continued into her second over as the in-form Scottish seamer bowled Emma Corney for six with a delightful ball that clipped off-stump before Niamh Holland cut her first ball straight to Glenn at cover to leave the visitors 9-3 after 18 balls.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Jess Woolston successfully appeals for the wicket of Somerset’s Katie Jones, one her three scalps today.
Woolston joined the party in the fourth over as she accounted for skipper Sophie Luff edging behind for two and when Woolston claimed her second wicket, trapping Katie Jones in front for seven, Somerset were 21-5 and staring down the barrel.
Salvation for Somerset came as the sun emerged and batting got slightly easier, with Jasmine Westley and Jess Hazell beginning a slow recovery amidst continued tight bowling from the White Rose.
The sixth wicket pair put on 66 runs off 93 balls to give the innings some semblance of respectability until Glenn dismissed both batters in the same over as Westley skied one to mid-off for 28 and Hazell was bowled by a short ball for 33, leaving the leg-spinner slightly sheepish in celebration.
Alex Griffiths was run out soon afterwards to leave Somerset 94-8, and they were indebted to the ninth wicket pair of Chloe Skelton and Ellie Anderson who managed to eke out 31 runs before both Woolston and Glenn picked up their third victims to finish with 3-25 and 3-24 respectively.
Yorkshire’s reply suffered a quick setback with Lauren Winfield-Hill departing second ball of the innings without scoring after top-edging a sharp Anderson delivery.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Sarah Glenn in the field, but another Yorkshire bowler who took three wickets to help bowl Somerset out for 130.
Alice Clarke was next to go for six caught behind off Anderson and when Jess Jonassen chipped one to mid-wicket in the same over, suddenly the modest target looked a long way off at 22-3.
Level heads were needed, and Erin Thomas and Sterre Kalis provided them as they compiled a 52-run partnership before Thomas was caught at mid-on by Luff off Lola Harris’s leg-spin for 29.
Ami Campbell came to the crease in determined mood, smashing the game’s only six, as she and Kalis attempted to get the hosts over the line.
Kalis was bowled sweeping by Skelton for 23.
But Campbell hit five boundaries in her knock of 35 off 17 balls – the highest of the match – before she was run out sprinting for a third with just 10 runs to win.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Ami Campbell sweeps en-route to 35, the highest score of the match for either side.
Then came the late drama, with Beth Langston bowled by Skelton first ball and then Woolston fourth ball before Glenn and Rainey, whose solitary boundary had given the home side some late hope, also departed as Yorkshire lost their last five wickets for four runs.
Off-spinner Skelton finished with 4-28 from 6.4 overs, with Yorkshire now mathematically out of the running for a top-three finish and knockout cricket.
They have lost nine of 13 matches and have three games remaining, starting at second-placed Hampshire on Sunday.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Chloe Skelton (sunglasses) celebrates dismissing Yorkshire’s Hannah Rainey to claim victory for Somerset.
