Sarah Bryce plays the semifinalist of The Blaze book

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By Webdesk


The bladder 133 for 4 (S Bryce 67*) count Northern Diamonds 129 for 7 (Winfield-Hill 40, de Klerk 3-31) with six wickets

Sarah Bryce played with an unbeaten 67 as The Blaze booked their place in the semi-final of the Charlotte Edwards Cup after beating Northern Diamonds at Seat Unique Riverside by six wickets.

The visitors needed 130 to win after Nadine de Klerk and skipper Kirstie Gordon limited the Diamonds with a fine bowling performance. Lauren Winfield-Hill top-scored for the hosts, but their scoring was consistently below par on a fast-paced outfield property.

Bryce made the charge to the Diamonds bowlers, using both strength and guile to propel her team for the required speed. She recorded her first fifty of the competition and finished the game undefeated after scoring six fours and three sixes. The Blaze can now prepare for their last four games, while the Diamonds still have work to do after their first defeat.

Diamonds won the toss and chose to bat in the bright sunshine at Chester-le-Street. The Blaze’s opening bowlers made life difficult for Winfield-Hill and Leah Dobson, limiting them to just one run on the first two overs as Grace Ballinger sent down a maiden.

Winfield-Hill struggled to time the ball in the early stages before finding her range in the fifth over, leading De Klerk to go for two boundaries. Dobson was given a life when she was dropped on the boundary by Kathryn Bryce for 14, but the visitors were still in control of the scoreboard as Diamonds only collected 26 from the Powerplay.

Gordon broke through when the drop proved costly as Dobson fell for 19. Hollie Armitage put up a semblance of power as she found the rope three times in an attempt to increase the run rate. Armitage formed the basis of the innings with Winfield-Hill going 47 before the Diamonds skipper was caught on the fence and Gordon presented her second wicket.

Winfield-Hill maneuvered the hosts into quite a position after working their way to 40, but Sophie Munro ended her stroke with her first ball of the innings. Bess Heath and Chloe Tryon added quick runs in the closing overs with 19 and 20 respectively, but De Klerk kept the Diamonds from pushing towards 140 by removing Heath before knocking out Tryon and Lizzie Scott with the last two balls of the innings.

The Blaze had no trouble getting off to a strong start in their chase of 130. Marie Kelly put pressure on the Diamonds bowlers from the start, scoring four boundaries to work herself to 19 before Scott produced an inswinger to take the opener to wriggle out.

Sarah Bryce kept up the intensity and hit Katie Levick for a long time over the first two sixes of the game. She followed that up with more sublime strokes to take over 16 from Scott’s third, putting the visitors nearly halfway to their victory goal at the end of the power play. Bryce was in full swing at the crease and easily found the gaps in the field.

The 23-year-old made her first fifty of the season from 30 deliveries, bringing down the required total. Abi Glen gave Diamonds a glimmer of hope by bowling Kathryn Bruce and Michaela Kirk in consecutive balls. De Klerk survived the hat-trick ball and extinguished the hosts’ hopes of a miraculous comeback with Bryce. The Blaze galloped across the line to secure their victory with 4.2 overs left.



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