A ruthless bowling display backed up by impressive catching set Yorkshire on their way to a first win of the season as they dismantled Sussex Sharks Women in today’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup 2 clash at The 1st Central County Ground, Hove.
The wickets were shared around a disciplined attack as the Sharks were bowled out for 77 in only 33 overs in front of new England head coach Charlotte Edwards, who was present today.
Vice captain Maddie Ward claimed 3-5 from five overs of off-spin, while Beth Langston and Claudie Cooper struck twice apiece, added to one each for debutant Olivia Thomas and Grace Hall, the latter on her return from injury.
Captain Lauren Winfield-Hill then led the task of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on victory – achieved by nine wickets inside 13 overs of the chase – with an unbeaten 47 off 43 balls.
She shared a fine opening stand of 74 with Erin Thomas, 25.
The White Rose claimed five points, including a bonus point, from their second match of the season.
Picture by John Heald. Beth Langston set the tone beautifully with two new-ball wickets this morning.
Sussex opted to bat upon winning the toss, but Jazz Westley was the only batter to reach 20. She posted exactly 20 from the middle order. Wicketkeeper-opener Mollie Adams, with 11, was the only other player to reach double figures.
While there was obvious early swing on offer, the Sussex total was no reflection on the condition of the Hove pitch. This was a good one for batting.
Yorkshire bounced back superbly from last Saturday’s opening day defeat to Worcestershire at Headingley, and it sets them up ideally for next weekend’s Derbyshire double header.
On Saturday, they travel to Derby to face the Falcons in this competition. On Bank Holiday Monday, they welcome the same county to Harrogate for the first round of the inter-tier County T20 Cup competition.
New-ball pacer Langston (2-8 from five overs) made the initial breakthrough when Phoebe Wilkinson was enticed into a drive by a full out-swinger, which Winfield-Hill took expertly diving to her right in front of first slip.
That left the score at 9-1 in the third over and was the start of a clatter of wickets.
Picture by John Heald. Claudie Cooper took two wickets, including one with a fabulous one-handed return catch.
The features of this Yorkshire performance with the ball and in the field was discipline from the bowlers and some excellent catching in support of that.
Cooper (2-15 from six overs) claimed the real eye-catching effort at the end of the eighth over to remove the other opener Adams, who could only pull a short ball straight back down the pitch. Yorkshire’s off-spinner dived to her right and held on brilliantly, one-handed.
Lucy Western was then lbw to Langston, Rachel King bowled by Love’s seam and home captain Chiara Green lbw to Cooper, leaving Sussex in all sorts of trouble at 31-5 after 14 overs.
One thing Sussex will be frustrated with is that a number of their batters’ dismissals were soft. For example, Daisy Gibb was next to go when she miscued a heave at a full toss from the leg-spin of Olivia Thomas to mid-on – 52-6 in the 19th over.
But the excellent catching continued.
Ami Campbell claimed a sharp, low catch at first slip as Talitha Stanley tried to steer a full ball from Ward through third. Sussex were 54-7 after 20 overs.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Openers Erin Thomas (left) and Lauren Winfield-Hill dealt with the chase expertly.
Top-scorer Westley then pulled a Ward full toss out to the deep mid-wicket fence, where Langston took a good catch before Eve O’Neill pulled a short ball from the same bowler out to Ria Fackrell at deep square-leg. By then, Sussex were on the ropes at 65-9 in the 28th.
Yorkshire were held up for five overs as last pair Anna Buckle and Kali-Ann Doherty resisted. But no damage was done, and Hall trapped the former lbw playing to leg to wrap up the innings.
Through Langston, Cooper and Love at the start, Yorkshire really put the squeeze on Sussex and built the pressure, leading to mistakes later down the line.
Olivia Thomas, on debut, is a 20-year-old all-rounder who has played county and regional cricket for Lancashire in recent years, batting in the middle order and bowling leg-spin.
While her bowling was required, her batting wasn’t given the size of the target.
Winfield-Hill and Erin Thomas were quickly out of the blocks, both finding the boundary as the score moved to 28-0 after four overs, quickly taking the requirement down to just 50 to win.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com. Yorkshire head coach Richard Pyrah will have been delighted with today’s performance.
Winfield-Hill took on the lead role. She was strong on the square drive and cut for back-to-back boundaries off Doherty’s new-ball seam at the end of the second over before Thomas pulled Buckle wide of mid-on shortly afterwards.
Winfield-Hill drove nicely against seam and twice lofted the leg-spin of O’Neill over the top for boundaries.
Unfortunately, Thomas, who had also played nicely, fell with only four runs to win when she was unusually out hit wicket against the medium pace of Doherty at the start of the 13th over.
As she tried to dab a wide-ish delivery down to third, her back foot looked to slip and catch the base of off-stump.
The England Under 19 immediately put her hands on her head in frustration. But, in the grand scheme of things, it was only a minor inconvenience at the end of a fabulous day at the office on the sunny South Coast.
