Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Ami Campbell at the crease for Yorkshire against Lancashire yesterday.
A tough few weeks in the Vitality Blast has certainly not dented Ami Campbell’s confidence in Yorkshire’s ability to progress and compete strongly in Tier 1 over the next couple of years.
The White Rose have lost seven of their eight games so far in the Blast, the other being a rainy No Result up at Durham last month.
Their latest defeat came at the hands of Lancashire Thunder at York yesterday afternoon, by six wickets defending a 161-target.
In that game, Campbell hammered an exhilarating 47 off 21 balls, taking the lion’s share of 24 off one over from ex-England seamer Kate Cross.
Yorkshire sit bottom of the group table and will not be involved at Finals Day later this month.
With four games remaining, the first of which comes against Somerset at Headingley tomorrow afternoon – 2.30pm, their aim simply has to be to get a win on the board before the end of the competition.
“We’ve been working really hard to put it all together, and hopefully we can finish the T20 comp on a high,” said opener Campbell.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Yorkshire and Ami Campbell are targeting their first victory of this season’s Vitality Blast when Somerset visit Headingley tomorrow afternoon.
“We’ve still got plenty to play for over the next week or so. We want to prove that we can compete, which I know we can.
“Some of the games have been really, really tight, and when it all comes together we’ll be good, strong competitors in this competition.
“I’ve been so proud of the girls for how we’ve stayed together as a unit when things have got tough. And it has been at stages. We’ve had some hard conversations. But it will all come together, I’m sure of that.
“We’ve brought a lot of youngsters into the team, both last year in Tier 2 and this year as well. We’re focusing on the Academy, and that will all fall into place nicely down the line.”
Yorkshire face a Somerset side who are in Finals Day contention. They are fifth in the table with four wins from eight games and only three points behind fourth-placed Durham.
They beat Yorkshire at Taunton early in the competition and only a fortnight ago beat the White Rose at Scarborough by nine runs in the third round of the Vitality County T20 Cup knockout competition.
“That will be a great game,” said Campbell. “We’ve played Somerset three times this year, and two of them have been very close.”
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Fast bowler Hannah Rainey was back from T20 World Cup duty with Scotland yesterday.
Campbell’s 47 was her career best T20 score in professional cricket and her best score of a challenging season so far across all competitions.
She has been elevated to open the batting in the T20s in recent weeks and spoke about that move before leaving York yesterday tea-time.
The left-hander, aged 35, added: “With the way I play, it doesn’t always come off, and I’ve had a pretty rough season finding my flow.
“But I’m really happy to be opening the batting, and I feel like it’s way more suited to my style.
“So hopefully this will be my position for the foreseeable in T20, and I’d love to put in some more performance like I did (against Lancashire).”
Somerset are coached by former Australia international Erin Osborne and captained by opening batter Sophie Luff, who is the leading run-scorer in the competition with 359 from eight matches, including five fifties.
One of those came against Yorkshire at Taunton at the end of May.
Picture by Harry Trump/Getty Images. Somerset captain Sophie Luff is enjoying a fabulous run of form in T20 cricket.
Luff has actually scored six T20 fifties this season and is on a run of three in succession. She scored another against Yorkshire in the County Cup win at Scarborough and two in the Blast.
Their overseas player is Australian batter Anika Learoyd.
This fixture forms part of a Blast double-header day at Headingley, with Yorkshire’s men facing Durham at 6.30pm.
