Women’s T20 Blast: Surrey thump Lancashire as Bears beat Essex

Ryana MacDonald-Gay’s career-best T20 figures of 4-14 sparked a spectacular Lancashire Thunder batting collapse as Surrey won by 53 runs and moved seven points clear at the top of the Women’s T20 Blast table.

Grace Harris scored 57 to help the home side recover from 17-3 and set the visitors 172 for victory in scorching conditions at the Oval, but some calamitous batting from the visitors meant they finished 118 all out.

At Edgbaston, Essex pushed the second-placed Bears to the penultimate ball of the match before succumbing to a two-wicket defeat.

A 94-run stand between Cordelia Griffith and Maddie Penna and some tight bowling from the visitors looked like it might earn Essex their first away win and a double over the Bears before Charis Pavely blasted her first tournament half-century to edge them over the line.

Match scorecards

After winning the toss and choosing to bowl first Lancashire were eyeing a third successive victory when Sophie Morris bowled home captain Bryony Smith for four.

It got even better for the visitors when England’s Sophia Dunkley was bowled by Tara Norris for 10, and Kira Chathli (0) was run out two balls later to leave the home side teetering at 17-3.

When Danni Wyatt-Hodge (12) became Morris’ second victim with the score at 50 it was left to Grace Harris and Paige Scholfield to repair the damage.

Harris smashed two sixes and eight fours in her 31-ball 57, while Scholfield’s 37 included five boundaries, including a six.

Lancashire’s chase was rocked by the early dismissals of Eve Jones (5), Seren Smale (5) and Fi Morris (2) to leave them 32-3 in the sixth over, but hopes were raised by a 70-run fourth-wicket stand between Emma Lamb (64) and skipper Ellie Threlkeld (32).

They threatened to take the game to a thrilling climax only for MacDonald-Gay and Phoebe Franklin (3-19) to claim six wickets between them in the space of 3.4 overs to lead Surrey to a fourth victory in five games with Franklin also accounting for Ailsa Lister with a run out along the way.

“We probably thought 171 was under par as 180-200 was the goal when I went in and we believed we could defend it,” Franklin said.

“We’ve been telling Ryana to back her strengths and keep it as simple as possible and getting that ball to nip back in.”