50 for Sophie but Durham come out on top
Hollie Armitage and Mady Villiers were the stars for Durham as they came out on top in this Vitality Blast clash against Somerset at the Cooper Associates County Ground, despite another half century from Sophie Luff.
Armitage finished unbeaten on 65 and Villiers claimed four for 28, her best T20 figures for Durham, as the hosts chased down 156 to win by six wickets with five balls to spare.
Luff and Bex Odgers shared an opening stand of 22 before the latter looked to give herself room to dispatch Mady Villiers into the leg side but dragged on to fall for 17 from 11 balls in the third over.
22 for one soon became 28 for two when Anika Learoyd was bowled by Katie Levick for four.
By the end of the powerplay the hosts were 42 for two, and the Somerset 50 arrived when Niamh Holland superbly cut Sophia Turner to the boundary off the final delivery of the seventh over.
Holland and Luff took the total to 65 before Holland (15 off 18) looked to scoop Abigail Glen only to pick out Grace Thompson.
At the halfway stage of the innings, the home side were 69 for three and the innings needed some impetus.
Unfortunately, whilst looking to accelerate the run rate, Katie Jones drove Villiers straight to Hollie Armitage at extra cover in the 11th over.
Three boundaries from Luff in the 12th over, bowled by Glen, including a glorious slog sweep over mid wicket kept the scoreboard ticking over, and the Somerset skipper went to 50, her 13th for the Club, from 32 balls.
Luff received a life shortly thereafter, when she was dropped at square leg by Emily Windsor off Heather Graham. Undeterred, the Somerset talisman took her side to three figures two balls later by crashing the same bowler to the boundary.
Durham finally got the wicket that they wanted in the 15th over when Luff advanced on Villiers and was stumped by Mia Rogers for an excellent 56 from 38 deliveries at 104 for five.
Ruby Davis (1) fell three balls later when she was bowled by Villiers for the addition of just two runs to the total.
That brought Chloe Skelton and Alex Griffiths to the crease and so the fireworks began!
The pair shared an entertaining stand of 48 from just 29 deliveries with balls being dispatched to all parts of the ground.
The penultimate delivery of the innings saw Skelton eventually run out for 26 off 15 whilst Griffiths remain unbeaten on 31 from 25 as Somerset posted a total of 155 for seven.
The Durham reply started strongly with Villiers and Armitage sharing an opening stand of 50, but Villiers (30 from 22) fell to Erin Vukusic courtesy of a good catch at extra cover by Learoyd in the sixth over. At the end of the powerplay the scoreboard was displaying 53 for one.
The score had advanced to 75 for one after 10 overs and Somerset were in need of a breakthrough. It was provided by Skelton who bowled Windsor (25) with an absolute beauty at 88 for two in the 12th.
When Bess Heath picked out Griffiths on the mid wicket boundary off Liv Barnes, the visitors needed 61 from 43 balls.
Durham went to three figures in the 14th over but Skelton struck in identical fashion to remove Heather Graham for 13 with 115 on the board in the 16th.
Armitage brought up her 50 from 35 deliveries in the 17th over, and 11 runs off the 18th over kept the visitors up with the required rate.
The penultimate over also yielded 11 runs, and with four required off the final set of six, the game was up for the hosts. The fifth wicket stand was worth 43 from 23 balls.
