You know that scene in a hundred movies, where someone surveying some carnage or other asks “Who could have done this?” And the reply comes “There’s only one man who could have done this…!”

Hold that thought!

It’s the 14th over at Durham’s Riverside Ground, and leg-spinner Katie Levick is bowling to England’s Sophie Ecclestone, who is always a threat with the bat, even if she doesn’t come off very often. Suzie Bates, who is marshalling the field, has Ecclestone (7 off 12 balls) locked down by a packed off side. Trying to break the shackles, Ecclestone slog-sweeps against the spin, getting a bit of a top edge but with acres of space on the leg side it looks quite safe from the fielder on the midwicket boundary.

The fielder though is having none of it – she sets off like a sprinter out of the blocks, running fully 25 yards before diving at full stretch plucking the ball out of the air inches from the ground. Who could have done this? I knew immediately. There’s only one woman In The World who could have done this: Mady Villiers!

It wasn’t really a particularly pivotal incident in the game – in fact it arguably damaged Durham, because (for all her potential to cause havoc) Ecclestone wasn’t looking in great nick, and she was replaced by Ailsa Lister, who was – of which, more anon. But it was one of those moments that reminds you why you travel 300 miles (via Derby and Manchester) to watch a game of cricket on a sunny-but-deceptively-chilly afternoon in Chester-le-Street.

The actual key turning-point in the match was Suzie Bates – given out stumped by Ellie Threlkeld on 49, just when it was starting to look like Durham were going to cruise it. Looking at the replay frame by frame, it’s very tight – Bates’ foot is definitely up two frames before the bails are broken; and definitely down the first frame after. As for the critical frame in-between…? On balance, I think she’s home; but the umpire obviously didn’t, and Bates had to go. From that point, Durham seemed to deflate. Bess Heath, who had made a promising start to get to 13 off 13, gave herself up – caught by Tara Norris off a rushed pull – as the hosts subsided to 122 all out, and an 18 run defeat.

Earlier in the afternoon, Lancashire had been made to work hard for their 140. An 11-run opening over, with a brace of 4s struck by Tilly Kesteven, very much did not set the tone. It was followed by a miserly 2-run opening over from Grace Thompson, who has the second highest dot ball percentage in the One Day Cup this season. Thompson’s first wicket-taking intervention however was as the catcher – pouching Kesteven in the 3rd over for 11; before coming back on to take 2 wickets in 3 balls, leaving Lancashire 3-for-not-very-much after 3 overs.

Lancashire retrenched and rebuilt, but it was slow going, and they looked to be heading for a well under-par 100-120, until the aforementioned dismissal of Ecclestone brought Scotland’s Ailsa Lister to the middle. Lister has been struggling this season, but she came good today – smashing 42 off 23 balls, including a six off the final ball of the innings. It wasn’t just the runs that Lister hit herself either – Ellie Threlkeld, who had been going at under a run-a-ball, significantly upped her strike rate too, in a Big Hitting Death Phase that took Lancashire to 140. With a little help from the square leg umpire, it proved plenty.