Richard Clark reports from Wombat CC

The simple story of this match is that Devon beat Somerset by 2 wickets. But that really is just the simple story, because there was so much more to it than one team beating another.

It may not quite have “had everything” in the way that a certain other match taking place on Sunday seemed to, but it had “most things” needed to make a compelling tussle, and as a final instalment – if that is what it was – in the story of the Women’s County Championship it did the game proud.

There was, of course, nothing at stake. Tell that to the players, though! Local pride is never to be sniffed at, and for Somerset’s part they were clearly eager to secure the six points required to climb above Worcestershire and out of the notional “relegation” zone.

Arrival at Wombat CC – a beautiful setting, and tremendously proud and enthusiastic hosts on the day – brought a scene to encourage any cricket lover. Yes, both teams warming up with the gusto one might expect ahead of the opening game of a new season, but also a lively All Stars session in full swing, with around 20 youngsters enjoying the warm sunshine

And those children would have a role to play shortly afterwards as they lined up for a guard of honour for the Devon team and the two Somerset openers as they took to the field. A lovely touch, the loveliest of touches.

The early stages gave little indication of any drama in store. Skipper Sophie Luff and Nicole Richards settled in, picking off the odd boundary and rotating the strike, whilst Devon were guilty of helping them along with a (un)healthy dose of wides. At 61 for none in the fifteenth over all was going swimmingly for the home side.

Enter Charlie Phillips with her gentle spin, first inducing an edge from Richards to Amara Carr behind the stumps, and then two balls later trapping Rebecca Odgers LBW for a duck. 61 for 2, and Somerset would never quite regain the control of the game that they looked to have during that initial period.

But Luff was still there and ticking along nicely. Along the way, she tucked Sophie Florides into the leg-side to move to 23 and in doing so passed Bryony Smith to become the leading run-scorer for the season across both forms of the game.

However, Phillips would prise her out on 30 with one that perhaps bounced a touch more than expected and took a top edge to lop up to Georgia Hennessy at slip, and then Hennessy repeated the dose at midwicket to claim Nat Wraith off Becca Silk. Somerset now 90 for 4 and in one of those could-go-either-way positions.

Emma Godman and Niamh Holland added 28 for the fifth wicket, but both went in the space of a few balls and from there the innings petered out somewhat. With more than seven overs unbowled Somerset were dismissed for 137, collecting just two bonus points, and meaning that they would almost certainly need to win the game (or take nine Devon wickets) to collect the points needed to lift themselves above Worcestershire.

The visitors began their reply in bullish style, Hennessy driving Georgia Tulip through extra cover, and then straight, for two picture-perfect boundaries in the opening over, but Tulip had her revenge soon afterwards as Hennessy feathered the ball through to Wraith to depart for 9. Game on?

Carr joined Claire Varcoe in the middle and the pair batted as fluently as any batsmen had all day, adding 41 for the second wicket. Both hit sixes – Carr depositing hers into the adjoining tennis courts – and for a while the match seemed to be heading inexorably Devon’s way until Luff turned to Richards, whose second over threw a major spanner in the works.

First Carr, who had looked utterly untroubled, attempted a sweep and was pinned in front for 16; two balls after that Emily Edgcombe picked out Godman at midwicket; and then from her second ball Olivia Churcher went the way of Carr for another duck. Three in five balls. 58 for 1 had become 58 for 4. Inexorable had become anything but.

And drama became crisis when, having watched all this unfold from the other end, Varcoe, on 28, then tickled the very next ball from Tilly Bond into Wraith’s gloves. Four in six balls. 58 for 5.

In hot water all of a sudden, Devon needed a cool head, preferably two of them. Rebecca Halliday and Milly Squire provided stability for a while, adding 18 for the sixth wicket before Richards picked up Squire for her fourth wicket. 76 for 6. Edgy stuff, this…

Once again a partnership developed as Becca Silk joined Halliday for 20 precious runs. Silk accumulated intelligently, whilst Halliday found the boundary from time to time, but with 42 still needed Niamh Holland found the perfect yorker to rattle her stumps and swing it Somerset’s way once more.

Luff rang the changes with her bowlers, but Silk and Phillips continued to collect the singles and Devon’s target came down, run by run. For a match that had nothing of any significance riding on it this was seriously gripping stuff. With 19 needed, Wraith claimed her third victim as Phillips edged Jodie Filer behind for 6. 119 for 8.

Yet again, a partnership, as Silk and Amanda Higginbotham stuck at their task, and this one would take Devon home pretty much one run at a time. Somerset did nothing wrong, there were no loose deliveries, no horrendous misfields, nothing handed to Devon on a plate. They had to work for every run.

To Tulip fell the honour of delivering the final ball in “official” Women’s County Cricket, and to Higginbotham the pleasure of swinging it out to deep midwicket and running through for a single. And that was that.

Silk deserves a mention here. A bowler by trade, her 15 wickets saw her finish as one of four joint leading wicket-takers in the Championship, but her batting won this day. Before the match her highest score in competitive county cricket this season was 5 (although she has a career top score of 40). Carrying her team to victory with 28 of the coolest and calmest unbeaten runs you could hope to see made her my player of the match.

That apart, one could pick at the bones and examine where the game was won and lost, the little things here and there that add up to make a difference, but somehow it feels irrelevant. It was a cracking match, and that’s all that needs to be said.

Somerset skipper Luff was philosophical afterwards. “It’s always challenging defending a below-par score. We back ourselves to defend anything but we probably missed two key bowlers yesterday. We didn’t quite have that fire power to bring back on to try to finish Devon off.”

On her own success with the bat, Luff added, “Personally it’s been a decent season, there have been a fair few times when I haven’t gone on and gone big and that’s been frustrating. You always want to be better, I guess. But in the majority of games I’ve led from the front and that’s something I really pride myself on.”

“We’re a very young group and I’m desperate to lead by example at the top of the order. Ultimately the way I played in a number of the T20s was down to the way we performed as a unit with the ball – chasing down less than a run a ball allowed me to take responsibility opening up the batting.”

Luff also expressed pride in the team’s T20 Division 2 triumph.

“I’m super proud of the girls for the way we performed in the T20. To finish top of the table is a fantastic achievement for this young group. They deserve that success and recognition and it’s been a complete team effort throughout that competition.”

Of the youngsters in the Somerset squad, Luff picked out Holland as one to watch for the future.

“Niamh is only 14 and has shown just what she is capable of at senior level. A genuine all-rounder, she’s been a great find with the ball for us this year. Having worked with her over the winter as her coach, to step on the field with her as her captain has been a real highlight. Seeing how she’s developed has been really pleasing.”

“Representing Somerset means an awful lot. It’s something I’ve done since the age of 12. It’s been a huge part of my life and to captain the team over the last couple of years has been a real privilege. Playing in what may be the last ever match is something I’ll probably look back on in years to come, and it’s fitting that it was against Devon. It’s always a close contest and a game I’ve always looked forward to over the years. Amara and I have played against each other for as long as I can remember so for us both to be out there as captains shows the journey within the county game. We’re great friends and I think that’s definitely a special element of county cricket and what it offers.”

Carr echoed Luff’s thoughts on the County game.

“County cricket over the years has opened up a lot of opportunities in the women’s cricket pathway and enabled me to experience different challenges along the way. I started my county cricket career as a shy 13-year old where women’s county cricket was the only cricket really available and I’m finishing having captained my home county for many seasons.”

“It’s exciting to see how much the women’s game has developed even since my childhood and all the opportunities it now has to offer young girls. I feel very proud to have been a part of the process and playing alongside some of the younger girls who I’ve since coached and seeing them playing their own part has been very rewarding.”

England have called up left-armer Kirstie Gordon to their squad for the 4-day Women’s Ashes Test which begins in Taunton on Thursday.

Gordon, who made her England debut at the T20 World Cup in the West Indies last November, has been fighting her way back into England contention after being diagnosed with a stress fracture of the lower back at the tail-end of last year. But she looked to have rebounded to her best as she took 8 wickets, including a 6-fer, for England Academy against the Australians in their warm-up at Marlborough last week.

Another player coming back from injury – Georgia Elwiss – is also included for the first time this summer. After years on the fringes, Elwiss looked to be challenging for a spot in England’s 1st choice ODI XI this spring on the tour of India and Sri Lanka, until a broken finger brought that trip to a premature end for her. However, she was one of England’s better performers in the last two Test matches, scoring a crucial 41* off 190 balls as England salvaged a draw in Sydney in 2017.

Fran Wilson and Alex Hartley are not officially in the squad but will stay with the team in Taunton as cover, with gun fielder Wilson odds-on to play a 12th-man role if and when England need cover in the field.

Meanwhile Danni Wyatt and Jenny Gunn will both take part in a series of T20 matches this week against Australia A and Ireland, and Wyatt at least will almost certainly return to the squad for the T20s.

With England already 6-0 down in the multi-format series, they need to win the Test, plus all of the three T20s which follow, to reclaim the Women’s Ashes.

Likely Team

1. Tammy Beaumont
2. Amy Jones
3. Sarah Taylor
4. Heather Knight
5. Nat Sciver
6. Georgia Elwiss
7. Katherine Brunt
8. Anya Shrubsole
9. Sophie Ecclestone
10. Kate Cross
11. Kirstie Gordon

Full Squad

Heather Knight (Berkshire)
Tammy Beaumont (Kent)
Katherine Brunt (Yorkshire)
Kate Cross (Lancashire)
Sophie Ecclestone (Lancashire)
Georgia Elwiss (Sussex)
Kirstie Gordon (Nottinghamshire)
Amy Jones (Warwickshire)
Laura Marsh (Kent)
Nat Sciver (Surrey)
Anya Shrubsole (Berkshire)
Lauren Winfield (Yorkshire)
Sarah Taylor (Sussex)

1. Forget The ODIs

England will rightly feel humiliated after that performance at Canterbury – that’s not how they want to be playing their cricket. At some point, they will need to look back through the video footage, do some proper analysis, and try to work out exactly what went wrong. But the time for that isn’t now. “We’ve got to get a bit of calmness, take stock and get a bit of space,” coach Mark Robinson said after the third ODI. Calmness is the right word: England are a good side and the issue isn’t that they don’t know how to bat – it’s all about what’s going on upstairs. With just a few days to readjust before the must-win Test begins on Thursday, they need to look forward, not back, or the problems will only get worse.

2. Bat Like It’s A Test

Obvious, but tricky, given how little multi-format cricket that any of these players get to participate in. With just one 3-day warm-up to adjust, at Millfield School this weekend, England need to work out a way to shift things down a gear in a relatively short space of time. On the other hand they also need to NOT approach things like they did at Canterbury 4 years ago, when they seemed to fold in on themselves completely and see “Test-match batting” as meaning “I don’t need to score any runs”. It’s a tricky balance to strike: the real answer is more women’s Tests, but sadly that doesn’t seem to be about to change any time soon… in the meantime, the Ashes are at stake!

3. Make Some Radical Selections

Mark Robinson has gone down a highly conservative route so far this series, with the same squad of players contesting all 3 ODIs, and none of the newbies getting so much as a sniff at selection. Maybe that made sense at the start, but given England’s lack of success so far, and how inexperienced almost all his players are at the 4-day format, there is no time like the present for a bit of experimenting.

Syd has already suggested that Eve Jones could be worth her weight in gold when it comes to the Test match format. In the past 10 days, she’s hit 125 for club side Porthill Park, which has added fuel to the fire. Another possible contender could be Kirstie Gordon, who took 6-85 against the main Australian side in the Academy match at Marlborough yesterday, including the wickets of Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry. The Test is a must-win – so why not be bold?

4. Find Their Knight In Shining Armour

No one has made a Test century for England since Heather Knight’s mammoth effort at Wormsley in 2013: this would be a good time for one of the top 6 to bring that particular drought to an end. A good contender to do so is Tammy Beaumont, who will almost certainly be opening the batting and will no doubt be keen to add a Test match hundred to her glittering international CV. Whoever it might be, England need someone to shoulder the responsibility and go big on what is likely to be a good batting track at Taunton (the same place where two world record T20 scores were hit on the same day last year).

5. Pray For Brunt

Somehow, you don’t quite realise how irreplaceable Katherine Brunt is until you see England play without her: she just seems to fire up the rest of the team in a way that’s difficult to put your finger on (and her wickets are pretty handy, too!) Having caught sight of her stomping around angrily after England lost the the 3rd ODI – presumably fed up with a) her own self-inflicted ankle injury, and b) the way her teammates capitulated – I reckon it’s even more imperative that she makes it back in time for the Test: no batsman wants to face down an angry Katherine Brunt. In the long term, there’s obviously a worry about what happens when she finally, inevitably, retires: for now, she’ll be raring to go – let’s hope she gets the chance!

In retrospect, it was Canterbury that was the beginning of the end: a top-order batting collapse led to a convincing Ashes defeat; and within a year, both coach and captain were gone.

The year was 2015, and England were led by coach Paul Shaw and captain Charlotte Edwards – two figures from the amateur era, struggling to keep-pace with Australia in an increasingly professionalised game.

Four years later – another coach; another captain; another Ashes – but the same old city of Canterbury… and the same old problem!

England had hoped that Australia’s thumping victory in last year’s World Twenty20 final was a one-off; but after 3 shell-shocking ODI defeats in the space of a week, culminating in yesterday’s humiliation at Canterbury, it is apparent that it was no aberration.

England were abject.

It started at the toss, which was perhaps a bad one to win, given that Meg Lanning said she’d have bowled too; but in retrospect it is difficult to justify putting Australia in.

With Katherine Brunt out and Sarah Taylor back, England had chosen to make a straight swap, in effect replacing a strike bowler with a batsman, in a situation where they needed to take wickets in order to seize the game by the scruff.

Brunt’s absence, and Heather Knight’s reluctance to bowl herself, meant that Nat Sciver had to bowl almost a full quota of overs, and while they did eventually buy the wickets of Alyssa Healy and Meg Lanning, they came at some cost – Sciver going at well over 6 an over, where Brunt had gone at under 4 in the first two ODIs, as the Aussies took command.

It’s true that Australia didn’t reach the 300-plus total which at one point looked on the cards; but in reality it always felt like 250 could well have been enough anyway, so 269 was 20 better than par… and ultimately 194 better than they actually needed.

Because of course this was Canterbury – where England Ashes collapses seem to come around like pilgrims – every one with a tale to tell!

This time that tale belonged to Ellyse Perry, whose 7-22 were the best figures ever returned by an Australian in a Women’s ODI. With her second Player of the Match performance of the series, Perry ripped England’s top order to pieces, punishing equally lose strokes across the line (Jones and Beaumont) and lazy prods outside off stump (Knight and Taylor) – and from 18-5, with Schutt having also sent Nat Sciver home for a duck, there was no way back from there.

So what’s answer? Force out the coach? Again? Fire the captain? Again?

No, because it won’t make a devil of a difference – it isn’t the coach or the captain – it is that Australian women’s cricket is quite simply operating on a different level right now. With the WBBL going from strength to strength, and professional contracts for an entire cohort of domestic players in the WNCL, the Southern Stars are just the tip of a cricketing iceberg; and while England can cruise past the West Indies as they did this summer, or South Africa and New Zealand as they did the last, when it comes to the Australian iceberg… they are cruising aboard the Titanic!

Tammy Beaumont blamed herself for England’s 2nd defeat in the space of 3 days at Leicester, telling us in the post-match: “I probably should have got a few more. I felt good but I got out at the wrong time – I should have been the one to manage the back end of that innings and get us up to 230/ 240 and give us a bit more of a chance.”

To be honest though, that feels a tad unjust – she wasn’t the one that failed! In fact, there is a fair argument that Beaumont should have been Player of the Match – it might be deeply unfashionable to hand the champagne to someone on the losing side, and taking nothing away from Delissa Kimmince, but Kimmince picked off a slogging tail, while Beaumont did the hard graft against Megan Schutt and Ellyse Perry.

TB got over half of England’s runs, and she ran hard to get them. Of each of her 6 ODI centuries, this contained the highest proportion of “run” runs, at 58%, with just 42% of her runs coming in boundaries. (Her other 5 hundreds average 46% “run” runs, and 54% boundaries.)

“I’m always trying to improve,” she said. “I’ve been working really hard with Ali Maiden on my balance, trying to score off more balls – I think that’s the first time I’ve got 100 in 100 balls.”

She thought right too – although two of her other tons ended with a higher strike rate, this was the only one where she actually passed the 100 mark in less than 100 balls… albeit only just – it was 99! (Maybe someone should buy her a Flake to make up for the lack of champagne?)

So where did England lose this match? Knight’s innings doesn’t look great in the scorebook – 17 off 47 balls at a Strike Rate of 36 – but she was clearly desperate to ensure that England didn’t lose another early wicket and end up reliving Tuesday’s collapse, and that was the right thing to do in the situation. And the tail didn’t wag, but you can’t expect it to every time – that’s why it’s a tail!

Overall then, the feeling has to be that England didn’t really “lose” the match so much as Australia “won” it, by batting sensibly at the end. The key player there was Jess Jonassen, who frustrated England 2 years ago in the Test at Canterbury, and did it again here. 31 off 34 balls doesn’t sound like a particularly decisive contribution, but having come in at a point where it could have been swinging back England’s way with 60 still required, Jonassen made sure that the run rate maintained that bit of impetus it still needed, without taking the risks that had seen England bowled out leaving balls on the pitch.

With the Aussies going 4-0 up, regaining the Ashes is an uphill struggle for England now. The Test isn’t technically a “must win” yet – if England win the 3rd ODI they could theoretically draw it and still claim the spoils if they win all the T20s, but the way things have gone so far, you’d have to say they probably aren’t the hottest favourites to do that unfortunately.

It was all going so well. Tammy Beaumont had gorgeously clipped the first ball of the innings off her legs, through to the midwicket boundary for 4.

This was the England we had come to see – bold, brash and beautiful.

The hope was becoming expectation.

And then it wasn’t.

It wasn’t even hope any more.

Just existential dread as first Jones… then Beaumont… then Taylor… then Knight all went in the first 6 overs, as Schutt and Perry between them humbled England’s top order. The ball that got Taylor was an absolute “beaut” as the Aussies themselves say; but both Jones and Beaumont got themselves out.

And Knight? Well, the England captain clearly felt hard-done-by in the moment – making the “T” DRS review gesture as she walked back to the pavilion, presumably feeling she’d hit it, as it was clearly dead in front. It was a protest that was DOA, however, as there is no DRS in this series – a decision which came more sharply into focus a few minutes later with Fran Wilson.

Wilson swung at a ball from Perry and got a bottom edge which was taken behind the stumps. “Not Out” said the umpire, and that was that. But if DRS had been in place, there is every likelihood that it would have seen Wilson sent back two overs before she was eventually dismissed, by another controversial decision which set people asking why DRS was not being used, as she was given out “Glove” Before to Jess Jonassen.

The answer, we understand, is financial – full DRS is expensive, with much more kit and caboodle required to meet the minimum standards for player referrals, compared with what is needed for umpire referrals for run-outs and stumpings.

Sky, finding themselves under fire on Twitter as the “host broadcaster”, were quick to point the finger at the host board as the ones who had actually made the decision not to spend the money; but the ECB perhaps can be defended on this one. There is only a limited amount of budget, and the minimum standards required by the ICC for international series mean you can’t just use the “normal” TV pictures, even when the decision is a howler of Molly Weasley proportions! (And if you want to complain about that, complain to the ICC not the ECB.)

It is easy to forget that as recently as 10 years ago, Ashes internationals were still being played at club grounds in front of crowds of literally tens! (Okay… the match at Stratford in 2009 wasn’t technically part of “The Ashes” at that point in history, but still…) So while we are not quite flying “First Class”, the fact that we are flying “Business”, with full TV coverage in front of crowds which break 4-figures even on a “school” night, is easy to overlook.

And as we’ve said, it wouldn’t have saved England anyway – Wilson would have been out two overs earlier, and even if she hadn’t been, the damage was already done at 19-4 – that was the ball game, from 6 overs in. The rest? It wasn’t quite a formality – Nat Sciver’s efforts with the bat had insured England had something to bowl at, and bowl at it they did. To come within 2 wickets of victory was a fine effort from them with the ball, but at the end of the day all the Australians needed to do was park the bus just long enough to get away with the loot, and that’s exactly what they did – 2-0 Australia!

Hampshire began the day at Aldershot Cricket Club knowing that their destiny was in their own hands: if they won both games, they would be the winners of the last ever County T20 Cup.

In fact, it was 50-over County Champions Kent who stole their thunder, winning both of their matches to leapfrog Hampshire and take third place in the final standings.

The two sides faced off in the first match of the day, with Kent winning the toss and electing to bat first. Maxine Blythin took advantage of some early fortune – including being dropped behind the stumps when still in single figures – to top-score with 43: hers was eventually the first wicket to fall in the 16th over, though her opening partner Kirsty Dymond had retired hurt several minutes earlier having been hit on the upper body.

Hampshire reined Kent back somewhat in the last 5 overs, with Providence Cowdrill taking 3 quick wickets, but the visitors still amassed 124-5.

Last weekend against Surrey, Hampshire had successfully chased down 155, and they initially looked on course to do again, with Maia Bouchier making up for the mix-up which caused the run out of local hero Ella Chandler by slamming Chelsea Rowson for six over square leg and playing some beautiful on drives.

However, the home side were pegged back in their chase by some tight bowling from Megan Belt and Grace Gibbs, who seems back to her best after the horrific knee injury which saw her miss the back end of last season.

With Bouchier still at the crease, Hampshire still had a chance; but in an attempt to force up the run rate the opener ending up miscuing Rowson to point in the 15th over, with Hampshire still needing 41.

The target ultimately proved out of reach, wickets tumbling in the last 3 overs as Hampshire concluded on 117-8.

In Kent’s second match, against Wales, Blythin was again the star of a low-scoring encounter, dismissed 2 runs short of her half-century but hitting a grand total of 53% of Kent’s total of 91 all out in 19 overs. Only a good low caught-and-bowled from Gabby Basketter was enough to account for Blythin, though it also saw the spinner taken off the hospital and unable to bat due to a possible fracture.

Sadly Wales were unable to back up their bowling performance with the bat – the combination of Tash Farrant and Alice Davidson-Richards leaving them reeling at 12-4 in the first 5 overs, including Rachel Priest, clean bowled by ADR.

Claire Nicholas showed some resistance but could not keep up with the rate, taking 40 balls to amass 24 before Megan Belt trapped her LBW in the 16th over, with Rowson ultimately finishing things off in the 17th as Kent won by 19 runs.

Hampshire went into the last match of the day knowing that it was all or nothing, needing to win if they were to have any chance of topping the table.

The pressure appeared to tell, with Wales’ decision to put them in quickly paying off as first Maia Bouchier and then Sam Betts fell in consecutive deliveries in Nicholas’ first over – a double-wicket maiden.

Captain Katie George was next to go, driving a ball of Danielle Gibson into the hands of Lauren Parfitt at extra cover; while Alexandra Griffiths then decimated the middle order, both Fi Morris and Lucia Kendall falling victim to identical dismissals as Bethan Gammon held 2 stonking catches at mid-on.

Charlie Dean then ran out Ella Chandler after the opener had scored 21, and only some last-minute boundaries from Providence Cowdrill in the final over allowed Hampshire to take their score past 70.

Could they defend it? Stranger things have happened in women’s county cricket, but it wasn’t to be for Hampshire this time around – Priest finally coming to the party with a 25-ball 23. While two quick wickets from Providence Cowdrill did give them a glimmer of hope, Wales were already well on their way by then, and Nicholas ultimately finished things in style with two beautiful drives for four as Wales triumphed with 3 and a half overs to spare.

So that’s that – as far as we know – for the T20 Cup. The triple-headers are long days – for the players and us! – but it’s been a blast. Thanks for having us.

Warwickshire (AKA Birmingham Bears) have won the T20 Cup with a dramatic victory over Lancashire in the final match of the season.

Despite losing their opening fixture of the day to Sussex, Warwickshire stayed in the hunt due to Hampshire’s defeat to Kent, but they still needed to beat Lancashire and hope that Wales could do them a favour in Hampshire’s final game.

Wales did their part, with Alexandra Griffiths taking 3-12 as Hampshire were bowled out for 73, which Wales chased-down with 4 overs to spare.

Simultaneously at Edgbaston Warwickshire had racked up a massive 150 against Lancashire, largely thanks to 76 off 57 balls from captain Marie Kelly, who had earlier been awarded a special county cap by Warwickshire legend Ian Bell for her hundredth appearance in a Bears shirt.

With nothing to lose, Lancashire gave chase hard, reaching 70-2 after 9 overs, but a collapse to 75-5 was the beginning of the end and Warwickshire completed the job by bowling out Lancashire for 130 – Georgia Davis and Jess Couser taking 3 wickets apiece.

Elsewhere, Bryony Smith was in the runs again, scoring 77 for Surrey as they posted 142 against Middlesex, with Hannah Jones taking a hat-trick to kill off Middlesex’s reply at 87 all out.

Meanwhile Somerset finished top of the tree in Div 2, beating Derbyshire and Worcestershire, with Sophie Luff top-scoring in both matches, as they finished 4 points ahead of Durham, who lost to Scotland and Yorkshire.