Scholfield's crucial six at Lancs takes Surrey top

Yahoo

07-06-2025

Paige Scholfield hit nine runs from the final over against Lancashire Thunder to earn Surrey victory [Getty Images]
Paige Scholfield hit a vital six to help Surrey beat Lancashire Thunder by just two runs on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method and move top of the Women's T20 Blast table on a day severely affected by rain.
Durham also picked up a dramatic one-run victory at Hampshire Hawks on DLS after poor weather ended the contest with the hosts on 33-2 six overs into their chase of 119 at Arundel.
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Elsewhere, the first half of a double-header at Trent Bridge was washed out as The Blaze's game with Somerset was abandoned without a ball being bowled and both sides had to settle for two points each.
The Blaze are now level on points with Surrey at the top, albeit having played one match more, while Durham and Somerset both picked up their first points of the campaign.
Surrey maintain 100% winning start
With Lancashire and Surrey's start time already delayed by more than two hours, the match was reduced to 11 overs at Emirates Old Trafford.
Lancashire set a respectable target of 86 and the game was slightly in their favour as rain began to fall at the start of the eighth over of Surrey's run chase.
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With Surrey 53-4 and needing to be on 60 to tie with the DLS par score by the end of the over, Scholfield came down the track and smashed Darcey Carter for six over extra cover before nudging three more to push her side on to 62.
Downpours worsened and forced the umpires to take the players off after the eighth over, leaving Surrey just two runs ahead on DLS with play unable to resume.
It may have been a shortened game, but one thing it was not short of was entertainment.
Lancashire lost opener Tilly Kesteven with the first ball of the match when she was stumped by Kira Chathli off Kalea Moore and the hosts then slipped to 10-2 in the second over when Seren Smale was trapped lbw by Ryana MacDonald-Gay.
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Fi Morris and skipper Ellie Threlkeld stabilised the innings with a 50-run partnership before the latter swung across the line and was bowled for 24 by Dani Gregory to leave the Thunder 60-3 midway through the seventh over.
Ailsa Lister then fell for just five after she lost her footing while on the stretch, allowing Chathli to make her second stumping of the game from Moore's bowling.
Tilly Corteen-Coleman picked up a couple of quickfire wickets, bowling Morris for 29 before doing the same to Danni Collins moments later.
Thunder eventually managed to drag their way to 85-6 after going along at 7.73 an over.
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Surrey pressed ahead in the early stages of the run chase, moving to 38 after four overs, but two quick wickets for Lancashire's Tara Norris, who removed Bryony Smith and Grace Harris, evened things up.
Danni Wyatt-Hodge then holed out to Lister at long on from Carter to set up what looked to be a tense finale with Surrey at 46-3 at what should have been the midway stage of their innings.
The Thunder piled further pressure on Surrey as Alana King took her first wicket for her new side, bowling Chathli for just two.
Rain started to fall as the eighth over began and Scholfield pulled off heroics just in time to give Surrey their third win in three games and take them to the summit of the table.
Thompson helps Durham pick up dramatic first win
Durham bowler Grace Thompson only went for three runs off what proved to be the last over of the match against Hampshire Hawks [Getty Images]
Hampshire Hawks also looked to be on course to maintain their 100% winning start after they limited visitors Durham to 119 from their 20 overs.
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Opener Suzie Bates top scored with 34 from 33 deliveries for Durham, while Bess Heath made an unbeaten 29 off 24 - though they were the only two batters to score at more than a run a ball.
Freya Davies took 2-20 and Bex Tyson 2-28 from their four-over spells in a Hampshire bowling attack that kept things tight.
Hampshire were 30-2 heading into the sixth over of their run chase after Ella McCaughan and Charli Knott had fallen cheaply early on to Mady Villiers and Katie Levick respectively.
With rain starting to close in, the Hawks needed to reach at least 34 by the end of the over to tie on DLS but Grace Thompson bowled excellently to limit them to just three runs from it.
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The rain only got heavier, leaving the umpires little choice but to take the players off and with the weather showing no signs of letting up, the game was ended an hour later to hand Durham the narrowest of victories.