Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Sterre Kalis and Lauren Winfield-Hill were sensational for Yorkshire at Headingley today.
Yorkshire v Somerset, Vitality Blast Women, Friday July 3, 2026, 2.30pm, Headingley
Toss: Somerset won it and elected to bowl
Teams – Yorkshire: Ami Campbell, Erin Thomas, Jess Jonassen, Lauren Winfield-Hill c/w, Sterre Kalis, Sarah Glenn, Alice Clarke, Beth Langston, Hannah Rainey, Jess Woolston, Holly Garton.
Somerset: Bex Odgers, Sophie Luff c, Anika Learoyd, Niamh Holland, Jess Hazell w, Alex Griffiths, Ruby Davis, Lola Harris, Olivia Barnes, Maddie Russell, Erin Vukusic.
Match summary: Yorkshire won their first match of this season’s Vitality Blast, by 11 runs at the ninth attempt, and it was largely down to the brilliance of fourth-wicket pair Lauren Winfield-Hill and Sterre Kalis.
Winfield-Hill amassed a career best 99 off 55 balls, while Kalis wasn’t far behind with 84 not out off 50 as the pair shared a joint world record partnership for that wicket of 167 to recover the White Rose from 18-3 to 210-4 against Finals Day chasing Somerset.
Somerset’s Australian overseas star Anika Learoyd hit a brilliant 103 not out off 49 balls, including four sixes, but Yorkshire just had enough as the visitors finished on 199-5.
Sarah Glenn and Jess Woolston were particularly impressive with spin and seam, returning 2-30 and 1-31 respectively. They both bowled miserly overs late on in the visiting chase to get Yorkshire on the board after seven defeats and a rainy No Result.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Jess Woolston conceded only four off the 18th over of Somerset’s chase.
Report: Erin Thomas top-edged a skied return catch to the seam of Alex Griffiths at the end of the first over.
Maddie Russell then had Ami Campbell caught at cover and Jess Jonassen at point, with Yorkshire reaching the end of the powerplay at 42-3
Winfield-Hill and Kalis quickly got going to recover things from what had been 18-3 on a belter of a batting pitch and with a lightning fast outfield.
Winfield-Hill swept back-to-back boundaries off Lola Harris’s leg-spin in the 10th over to move into the forties, and the score reached 82-3 at the halfway point in the innings.
Winfield-Hill reached a 31-ball fifty shortly afterwards and also faced two head-high full tosses from Niamh Holland, who was removed from Somerset’s attack having bowled only nine balls. Later, Somerset also retired out Griffiths as she was three off nine balls deep in their chase.
Anyway, Winfield-Hill had been dropped not long before reaching her fifty – and when similarly classy Kalis reached hers off 33 balls, Yorkshire were motoring at 153-3 in the 16th.
Somerset were put under serious pressure as the pair hit 34 boundaries between them, with Winfield-Hill falling agonisingly short of a maiden century when she miscued to backward point to hand Russell a late third wicket. She hit 19 fours in all.
But, surprisingly, it was Bex Odgers who hit the first six of the match when she pulled Hannah Rainey over deep backward square-leg as 12 came from the first over of the Somerset chase.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Sarah Glenn struck twice for Yorkshire and celebrates one of those wickets with Alice Clarke.
Odgers pulled another off Rainey as Somerset reached the end of the powerplay at 61-1, losing captain Sophie Luff to Jess Woolston’s seam.
Odgers made it to 39 before being trapped lbw by Sarah Glenn with the score on 81 in the ninth over.
Learoyd played nicely and pulled Woolston for six over midwicket en-route to her 27-ball fifty, by which time Somerset were 129-2 after 13, needing 82 more.
Glenn bowled a brilliant 15th over, conceding only three and bowling Holland. And at 140-3, despite Learoyd’s presence on 57, it felt key.
Two overs later, Woolston conceded four and impressed as well.
Somerset retired Griffiths out just before Learoyd reached her century off 48 balls as Jonassen defended 32 off the last over.
Magic moment: The fourth-wicket partnership off 167 between Lauren Winfield-Hill and Sterre Kalis was sensational, recovering Yorkshire from 18-3 in the fourth over.
Turning point: Two words for you. See Above!
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Anika Learoyd on her way to an unbeaten century for Somerset.
Stat of the match: That 167 stand is a joint world record for the fourth wicket in women’s T20 cricket, equalling UAE pair Esha Oza and Heena Hotchandani, who did the same against Nepal in Bangkok February of this year.
What they said – Yorkshire’s captain Lauren Winfield-Hill:
“It was an absolute belter of a pitch.
“I know it was a tight margin in the end, but I don’t think we bowled that badly. We just got three or four in the arc of Learoyd, which we could have avoided.
“The crowd was awesome. These double headers bring a lot, that one-club feel where you can stay and watch the blokes, they come early and ask about the pitch. It’s been a great afternoon.
“I know people say, ‘Oh, a hundred’, but it doesn’t really make a difference to me. I was trying to get a four off that ball, I wasn’t playing for my hundred at that point.
“It was a great game of cricket from both sides, and I’m thrilled that we’re genuinely on the board.
“Sterre is a superb player who has improved year on year. We probably didn’t see the best of her at the World Cup. She has to play a different role for the Netherlands, but the way she plays for us she’s one of the top players in domestic cricket over here now.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Star duo Sterre Kalis and Lauren Winfield-Hill celebrate victory.
“Woolly’s been awesome. It’s been tough for her to get back into the team. She’s worked hard behind the scenes. She probably lacked a bit of control coming off the back of the 50-over stuff into the T20s, but she’s worked really hard with Rich Pyrah.
“That over from her, it iced the game for us. She went for four and executed exactly what we wanted her to do. The plan was to go wide away from Learoyd’s arc, and she was able to do that most successfully. Had that over gone for 10 or 11, that last over was even more dicey.”
What’s next: Yorkshire are back in action very quickly, against Warwickshire Bears at Edgbaston on Sunday morning, starting at 11.30am. That is a double-header day alongside the Bears’ men.
