Somerset stay unbeaten after Yorkshire win
Sophie Luff top-scored with 57 from 35 balls as Somerset beat Yorkshire by 39 runs at the Cooper Associates Ground to extend their unbeaten start to the Vitality Blast campaign.
Somerset’s in-form captain struck eight fours and a six and shared in stands of 68 and 42 with Bex Odgers and Anika Learoyd for the first and second wickets respectively as the home side posted 177 for five, Somerset’s highest Tier 1 T20 score. Niamh Holland weighed in with a hard-hitting 41.
Lola Harris then took three for 12 and Liv Barnes three for 19 as Yorkshire lost wickets to spin at regular intervals, only Sterre Kalis mustering meaningful opposition in a defiant innings of 51 in 35 balls as the reply came up short on 138 for nine.
Inserted under blue skies on a true surface, Somerset got off to a high-octane start, Luff and Odgers staging an opening stand of 68 in 7.3 overs. Promoted up the order this season, Luff looked perfectly at home in her new role, driving Jess Woolston for three consecutive fours to bring up 50 inside five overs.
Pulling to good effect, Odgers accrued five boundaries before attempting to reverse sweep Beth Langston and falling lbw for a 25-ball 30. Any respite for the bowlers proved short-lived, Luff continuing to drive fluently in raising a second half century in as many matches, reaching that landmark via 30 deliveries as Somerset advanced to 84-1 at the halfway point.
Learoyd proved every bit as forthright in her approach, scoring three boundaries in one Holly Garton over to propel Somerset into three figures before Luff gave Jess Jonassen the charge and was stumped with the score 110 for two in the thirteenth.
Learoyd holed out to Kalis on the long-on boundary for a 28-ball 35, but Holland ensured there was no let-up in the rate, raising a quickfire 41 off 27 deliveries with five fours as Somerset scored 37 off the last three.
Yorkshire’s reply was undermined in its infancy, Erin Thomas losing off stump to Alex Griffiths, influential skipper Lauren Winfield-Hill finding short fine leg off the bowling of Barnes and Jonassen cleaned out by Erin Vukusic as the visitors slumped to 29 for three in the fifth.
Slow left armer Barnes then had Ami Campbell held at long-on with the score 64 for four in the ninth, at which point Kalis represented Yorkshire’s last realistic hope. The Dutch international rose to the challenge, going to an enterprising 50 from 33 deliveries with nine fours, only to then pop a ball from Barnes to square leg with a further 74 needed off seven overs.
When leg spinner Harris bowled Ward and Ines Blackwell with successive deliveries in the fourteenth, the game was effectively up for the visitors.
Vukusic returned to bowl Langston at the death and finish with figures of two for 17 from three overs.
