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Somerset claim dramatic win over Surrey
Women’s Tier One cricket got off to the most dramatic possible start at Beckenham, when Somerset beat Surrey off the very last ball in a Metro Bank One Day classic.
Somerset claimed the victory after smashing 32 from the final 13 balls of the match.
With the scores level, Fran Wilson hit Alice Davidson-Richards for four to secure a seven-wicket win in game reduced to 33 overs a side. Somerset had seemed to be coasting thanks to an opening stand of 122 between Heather Knight, who made 64 and Emma Corney, who hit 64.
Surrey responded with a stifling fielding performance, but with Somerset almost dead and buried Amanda-Jade Wellington hit four successive fours to leave the visitors needing 15 off the last over and with the scores level Wilson powered Alice Davidson-Richards final ball through mid-wicket.
Earlier Surrey posted 243 for seven meaning Somerset had to chase revised target of 238.
Davidson-Richards was their top scorer with an unbeaten 57 from 47 balls, while Amanda Jade-Wellington took three for 42.
It might have been a historic occasion at the New County Ground, but the weather deterred all but a handful of spectators. Conditions were bitter and rain delayed the start until 11 am.
Somerset won the toss, chose to bowl and struck almost immediately. Ellie Anderson bowled Bryony Smith for one from the fourth legal delivery of the morning, but the rain returned after 3.3 overs with Surrey on 21 for one and play didn’t resume until 1.45 pm.
Alice Capsey and Danni Wyatt-Hodge put on 59 for the second wicket, but both then went to Wellington. Capsey was caught for 26 at cover by Charlie Dean and Wyatt-Hodge was lbw for 33.
Wellington then had Alice Monaghan stumped for a third-ball duck, her third wicket in the space of 14 deliveries.
Sophia Dunkley was the next to go for 22 when she pulled Knight to Alex Griffiths, who took a juggling catch on the boundary.
Paige Scholfield and Davidson-Richards shifted the momentum with a stand worth 60 that was only broken when the former miscued Charlie Dean to Laura Jackson. Davidson-Richards kept the pressure on by hitting Jackson for six over cow corner and Kira Chathli weighed in with a useful 25 before she was bowled by Dean, leaving Phoebe Franklin to scramble three not out from two balls in the final over.
The target looked steep and Corney might have gone when she miscued a drive off Franklin but Scholfield couldn’t hang on the an ankle-high catch.
Both batters hit Dani Gregory for six in the 18th over before Knight fell, pulling Davidson-Richards to Monaghan.
Corney drove Ryana MacDonald-Gay for four to pass 50 but she was bowled leg stump by the same bowler and the run rate crept upwards. MacDonald-Gay went for just four from the 30th over, leaving Somerset needing 37 from 18.
Capsey restricted them to five from the 31st and crucially had Dean caught by Franklin for 41 off the final ball of the over, but Wellington revived the visitors with four successive fours off MacDonald-Gay, reducing the target to 15 off six.
Wilson hit the first ball of the final over for four. The second went for a single and Wellington carved the third for four and swept the fourth to the fine leg boundary, leaving Somerset needing just two from two.
They scrambled a single off the fifth to leave Wilson facing. She pulled Davidson-Richards for four through cow corner to seal a history-making win.
Wello chats us through Somerset’s incredible win over Surrey! 💥#WeAreSomerset pic.twitter.com/lRt2pBNa0B
— Somerset Women (@SomersetWomen) April 23, 2025
