As we departed Taunton at an ungodly hour on Sunday morning, we knew the journey up the M5 to Edgbaston would be worth it. We were at last going to reveal one of the great mysteries of women’s cricket… how to pronounce Tilly Kesteven’s last name.
The answer? Ker-steven.
Tilly herself was only too happy to provide the answer, after scoring 29 from 37 balls for Lancashire in their 5-run win against Bears – although we did have to hare around the outfield at Edgbaston to ensure we caught her just before she disappeared into the dressing room!
Despite the result, if we’d been asked to name a Player of the Match today, I’d have chosen Nat Wraith, who finished unbeaten on 58 from 34 balls. With Bears reduced to 101 for six in the 14th over, it seemed like the match was all-but over, but Wraith’s innings at least made a game of it, taking the equation down to 14 runs required from the final over.
Nat Wraith has had an interesting few months. In October, the perennial Western Storm wicketkeeper unexpectedly signed for Bears, saying that she was excited to “be part of a new environment“. So far, the move has proved Somerset’s loss: Wraith has already helped Bears achieve a record run-chase (the highest ever in women’s List A cricket in England).
Here, she did something which none of the England batters managed over the winter, and found the measure of Alana King, effortlessly lofting the leg-spinner over deep midwicket for six before doing the same thing to Sophie Morris two overs later. Fi Morris did shell her in the deep on 41*, in a move that for a while looked like it might have cost Lancashire the game.
Had Wraith’s ramp shot off the first ball of Grace Potts’s final over made it to the boundary, it still might have done… but the aforementioned Kesteven (Ed: remember, it’s Ker-steven) dived to cut it off, and instead, Wraith and Hannah Baker ran two.
Wraith found the boundary next ball, pulling through midwicket to leave the equation 8 from 4… but a wily Potts then spotted Wraith moving back across her stumps and followed her, meaning her cut was not quite clean enough to pierce the ring.
A dot ball was worth its weight in gold at that point – it meant Wraith felt compelled to run on the next ball, leaving Baker on strike, who miscued a catch to cover.
With one ball remaining of the innings, Potts sent down a leg-side wide and the crowd held their breath… until Potts sealed the deal with another dot ball, after a huge swing-and-a-miss from Hannah Hardwick yielded nothing. Wraith, stranded at the other end, could only watch on in frustration.
For the Bears, the real issue was their failure to capitalise on an excellent start, having reduced Lancashire to 37 for 4 at the end of the powerplay. Emma Lamb, having herself hot-footed it over from Taunton early this morning (Ed: we might even have passed her on the motorway!), lasted just 4 balls before being bowled through the gate by Issy Wong, while Abbey Freeborn took an excellent leaping catch to snaffle Morris’s attempted cut.
But – not for the first time in this competition – Lancashire’s middle-order bailed them out: Kesteven and Ailsa Lister shared a 69-run partnership for the fifth wicket, before Alana King and Tara Norris enabled Lancashire to add 43 runs from the last four, despite a 20-minute rain interruption between the 19th and 20th overs.
In reply, Davina Perrin got the Bears off to a flyer, but the 20-year-old Grace Johnson – who is rapidly becoming One To Watch – took out her stumps in the final over of the powerplay. Laura Harris couldn’t match her Friday fireworks with a Sunday showstopper, skying a catch miles in the air after managing just one boundary, and Bears were left struggling… at least until Wraith breathed life into the game.
Oddly, the match has done little to impact on current standings: at the time of writing, Lancashire remain in 6th place, while Warwickshire sit at number 3.
But the Blast has an odd, lopsided schedule, with Warwickshire already having played 5 games, while Surrey (who are top) have played just 3 – so today’s result might yet come back to bite the Bears.
