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Last over agony for Somerset
Freya Kemp proved Hampshire Hawks’ last-over hero to edge a nail-biter against Somerset in the Women’s Vitality Blast.
Rhianna Southby’s 57 and Ellyse Perry’s 40 had given Hampshire the advantage in chasing 154, but accurate bowling had seen them fall behind the rate.
With 11 runs needed off the last over, Kemp pumped a six down the ground before knocking off the remaining runs to give Hawks just their second win in the last seven matches to give them renewed hope of qualifying for finals day.
Fran Wilson had given Somerset a defendable total with an impressive 55 but it wasn’t enough for the bottom placed side.
Somerset chose to bat first under grey skies, and found a consistent tempo to build partnerships and accumulate runs.
Bex Odgers set up the innings with a quick-fire 18 filled with cuts to the boundary before Wilson took over to provide the backbone of the innings.
Former England batter Wilson got moving with a delicious straight drive. This was followed by deft ramps and paddles helping her reach a 30-ball fifty.
She had seen Niamh Holland, Sophie Luff, and Jess Hazell come and go – the former two to Bex Tyson, before Amanda-Jade Wellington entered to kick-on in the last six overs.
Wilson was run out after a mix-up and a direct hit from extra cover, and while Wellington tried to put off the bowlers with her moving around the crease and funky stances outside off stump, boundaries were hard to find at the death.
Somerset managed to find 43 runs off the last five overs, mainly through hard running, with only three boundaries off the bat in that time.
Freya Davies capitalised on the last over bat flailing by picking up the wickets of Wellington and Alex Griffiths, and with the earlier wicket of Odgers, returned three for 38.
Perry, on her home debut, used her immense quality to power the ball to the boundary seven times but her downfall was attempting to scoop Erin Vukusic and was pinned lbw for 40. It was the Croatian’s first Blast wicket.
Her opening partner Rhianna Southby struggled with timing but slowly managed to accumulate and with Freya Kemp found their way to around the required rate with a 68-run stand.
But Somerset’s tight bowling, especially from Vukusic and Griffiths gave Hawks 27 to chase in the last three overs.
Kemp was dropped on the boundary edge for four, but when Southby was bowled for 57 with 16 still needed in 11 balls, the result was in the balance.
But Kemp smashed the second ball of the last over, bowled by Griffiths with 11 needed, for a six over long on before two twos got them over the line with two balls to spare.
At the end of the match, Fran Wilson said: “It was one of those days were I was timing it and I didn’t have to do too much. I’ve been waiting for that all season.
“I thought the wicket was good. A bit in it for the batters, a bit in it for the bowlers. We could have got 10 or 20 more so we need to take more responsibility as players to push on. It was good but we had more in the tank.
“We’ve shown spells of our bowlers taking control throughout the season, it is about extending those for longer.
“We are an inexperienced squad, which isn’t an excuse, but everything is a learning curve. We have to keep banking those experiences and become more consistent.
“We have been close in matches a lot this summer. It’s probably a good thing that when you are losing it is with really small margins. It means we don’t have to reinvent the wheel but we do need to get better in those pressure situations to get the win over the line.”
