Vitality Blast Women 2025 continues with Essex vs Somerset and Durham vs Lancashire on 1st June. Enjoy live streams, commentary, and match analysis.
Essex Women vs Somerset Women, Vitality Blast Women
Vitality Blast Women: Essex 149-7 beat Somerset 84-9 by 65 runs.
By Ben Kosky, ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
Esmae MacGregor claimed career-best T0 figures as Essex’s bowlers ripped through the Somerset batting line-up to secure their side’s first win of the Women’s Vitality Blast at Chelmsford.
The Essex medium-pacer finished with four for eight from 3.2 overs, while leg-spinner Abtaha Maqsood took two for 16 as the visitors were rolled for just 84, with Fran Wilson their only batter to reach double figures.
Somerset had looked strongly-placed at halfway after seamer Ellie Anderson’s three for 19 restricted their opponents to 149 for seven, opener Lauren Winfield-Hill top-scoring with 42 from 25 balls.
Anderson struck with her first delivery after Somerset had won the toss and inserted their hosts, uprooting Grace Scrivens’ middle stump to set the tone with two tight powerplay overs.
The seamer should have snapped up another early wicket, spilling a return drive from Lissy Macleod, while Winfield-Hill swept Chloe Skelton for successive boundaries as the pair added a brisk 45 from 33.
But Olivia Barnes’ acrobatic catch at square leg, leaping to grab the ball one-handed at the second attempt, removed Macleod and Alex Griffiths castled Winfield-Hill in the next over to leave Essex under pressure.
Amanda-Jade Wellington’s miserly spell of two for 21 maintained control, but Sophia Smale – dropped early on by Mollie Robbins – provided some impetus with 22 from 18 before she was eventually bowled trying to ramp the medium-pacer.
Jo Gardner (20 from 22) and Eva Gray both cleared the ropes during the death overs to haul their side to fractionally short of 150 – a total that looked far more challenging for Somerset after they lost four wickets in the powerplay.
Dropped at slip first ball, Bex Odgers was then caught behind slashing at Kate Coppack and Emma Corney swung at Scrivens and missed before Amelie Munday skied MacGregor into the hands of mid-on.
Skipper Sophie Luff also fell cheaply, cleaned up by Gray’s inswinger, but the experienced Wilson started strongly with successive fours off Coppack and was looking nicely set with 25 from 19 when she perished top-edging a sweep off Maqsood.
The leg-spinner also accounted for Griffiths before diving forward at mid-on to pouch Anderson’s drive off MacGregor and Somerset’s last faint hope of a fightback evaporated when Wellington holed out to long leg.
With Barnes unable to bat after sustaining an injury in the field, the contest ended in the 15th over as MacGregor has Skelton caught at mid-off to secure the ninth Somerset wicket – and her fourth.
Essex bowler ESMAE MacGREGOR, who took four for eight, said:
“With T20 cricket you’ve just got to keep the stumps in play, that’s what we did today so it was a good bowling effort from the squad.
“I think that’s something we can definitely take forward as a group into our next game on Wednesday. We had a tough start to the season but we’ve got so much hope going forward.
“We definitely felt it (149 for seven) was defendable – anything over 150 would be positive – and the team showed that.
“Being out in the middle with the group is amazing, we’ve got a brilliant group of girls and the buzz is great. Today we proved what we can do.”
Somerset Women head coach TREVOR GRIFFIN said:
“At the halfway stage, we were really happy – we thought Essex were about par. In the field we stayed in the game and worked hard, the outfield’s quick.
“I was really impressed with the way Ellie Anderson bowled, she was outstanding and we had two great catches from Olivia Barnes.
“Olivia’s currently in hospital having the webbing on her hand looked at, potentially a few stitches. We’ll assess her over the course of the next few days.
“You get three down in the powerplay, you don’t win many games of T20 cricket and that’s something that’s happened to us twice now. We need a little more clarity around how we’re going about things at the top of the order to maybe give ourselves a little bit of a chance with the bat.”
Durham Women vs Lancashire Women, Vitality Blast Women
Vitality Blast: Lancashire Thunder 140-7 v Durham 122. Lancashire Thunder won by 18 runs.
Lancashire 4 points, Durham 0 points
Lancashire Thunder produced a gutsy performance in the field to defend 140 to beat Durham by 18 runs at the Bank Homes Riverside and secure their first victory in the 2025 Vitality Blast.
The odds were against Ellie Threlkeld’s side when Durham were 61 without loss after eight overs but Grace Potts took four for 33 to derail their pursuit. Threlkeld produced a brilliant stumping to remove the New Zealand legend, Suzie Bates, off Potts for 49 before England’s Sophie Ecclestone took two wickets in four balls to end the match
In the first innings of the match, Lancashire Thunder recovered from 76 for five in the 14th over to reach a total that seemed no better than par at best, Threlkeld making 48 and Ailsa Lister clubbing a 23 ball 42 not out.
Lancashire’s powerplay was a particular triumph for Durham’s Grace Thompson, who caught Tilly Kesteven at midwicket off Trudy Johnson for 11 and then took two wickets in successive legal deliveries to reduce the visitors to 18 for three in the fourth over.
Thompson had Seren Smale caught behind by Bess Heath for a first-ball duck and then had Fi Morris caught at cover by Hollie Armitage, also for nought, the medium pacer’s successes only being bridged by a wide delivery.
Lancashire recovered to 35 for three by the end of the powerplay and had reached 60 for three by the midpoint of their 20-over innings. But the chance of any further prosperity was immediately snuffed out when Katie Mack was athletically caught by Katherine Fraser off Johnson for 26 to end her 42-run stand with Threlkeld. And Mady Villiers then produced another fine catch at deep midwicket to get rid of Ecclestone off Katie Levick for seven.
That left Lancashire on 76 for five in the 14th over but some superbly enterprising strokeplay by Threlkeld and Lister saw the pair add 57 for the sixth wicket in six overs before Threlkeld was caught at short third by Mia Rogers off Suzie Bates two short of her fifty. Tara Norris was then bowled first ball but Lister whacked the last ball of the innings for six to hoist the total to 140 for seven.
Thompson was the best of the Durham bowlers, finishing with two for 22 from four overs and Johnson returned figures of two for 26 after an innings in which the spinners were often roughly treated.
In contrast to their opponents, the home side lost no wickets in the powerplay. Instead, Bates and Fraser galloped to 50 for nought without taking discernable risks and Durham had reached 61 without loss in eight overs before both Fraser and Armitage were bowled by slow left-arm deliveries from Sophie Morris, Fraser for 28 and Armitage, three balls later, for one.
Villiers was bowled for two by Grace Johnson in the next over and Durham were 68 for three after ten of their 20 overs. A partial recovery was wrecked when Bates was brilliantly stumped by Threlkeld off Grace Potts for 49 and the same bowler had Bess Heath caught at mid-on by Norris three balls later.
That left Durham needing 46 off six overs and by now the momentum of the game had shifted decisively. Turner and Mia Rogers made 13 apiece and threatened to wrest the game back but Potts dismissed both batters in her final over to leave the home needing 19 off 12 balls with two wickets in hand. Ecclestone, though, had the last word.
Lancashire’s Ailsa Lister said:
We’re very pleased. We had a bit of a near miss yesterday against the Blaze and today was another exciting one. We’re happy to get on the board in the Blast.
We had a tough start with the bat but I thought we pulled it back really well. I thought Ellie batted brilliantly and we reckoned our total was about par, so it was really job half done.
But they got off to a good start, so we’re happy we managed to peg them back at the end. T20 games can change so quickly and Ellie was really calm when I went out there. We were clear about what we wanted to do and I thought we accelerated really well there.
Ellie gave me more freedom to play the way I wanted to play and though we didn’t quite get it right at the start of Durham’s innings, it’s always good to take ten wickets in a T20 innings and all the bowlers pitched in.
Durham head coach, Dani Hazell said:
Should we have knocked that score off? Yes. Having put ourselves in that position it’s always disappointing to lose.
We had three seamers under the age of 22 and thy stood up in the powerplay and they stood up throughout the game. It was a good wicket and 140 was probably par. But we just got ourselves in a hole and it’s sometimes difficult to get out of a hole in T20 cricket.
There were two brilliant catches and today our ground fielding was outstanding. We have two games away from home next weekend and we’ll have to do it the hard way. It was that last eight overs of our ininngs that killed us
Vitality Blast League 1
Match Prediction – Essex Women v Somerset Women
Match Prediction – Durham Women v Lancashire Women
Vitality Blast League 2
Match Prediction – Northamptonshire Women v Leicestershire Women
Match Prediction – Middlesex Women v Glamorgan Women
Match Prediction – Sussex Women v Gloucestershire Women
Match Prediction – Yorkshire Women v Derbyshire Women
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