By Grockle
May 24 2026

A tie in the first game means we go to Brimingham undefeated and we are starting to move as a team.  Still without The England trio of Knight, Gibson and Dean plus Emma Corney still out with a knee injury and no Molie Robbins this season yet.  The game is first up at Edgbaston before the men later on Sunday afternoon.  The Bears won the toss and chose to bat first.

Women's Blast Game 2 - v Warwickshire @ Edgbaston Sunday 24 may 2026

The women get on the road for the secon double header of the season as they take on the Bears at their place.  Warwickshire won the toss and decided to bat first.

The Somerset side for this game is;

Luff (c), Odgers, Learoyd, Holland, Griffiths, Jones (wk), Skelton, Hazell, Harris, Barnes, Vikusic

whch means the only change from the home game is the inclusion of Vikusic for Westley.  Pace for spin in Birmingham.

It is in fact Erin Vikusic who opens the bowling against Austin and Freeborn and the Birmingham pair aren't messing around as they take 17 off the first over with Freeborn scoring 10 to Austin's 5.  Not the start Somerset would have wanted. Skelton takes the second and though she halves the amount she gives up the home side are off to a flyer after 2 on 25 for 0.  Alex Griffiths takes over for the next followed by Olivia Barnes who makes a very necessary first breakthrough as she has Freeborn caught by Sophie Luff  off her first ball of the 4th for 16 from 9 at 34 for 1.

That wicket brings in Redmayne who despite Chloe changing ends in the Powerplay helps push the score to 50 for 1 before the end of the 5th and to 58 for 1 after Vikusic's second.  Holland  is then introduced but it isn't until Griffith's  2nd in the 9th that we have some success as Austin is run out for 40 from 29 at 80 for 2 by Chloe Skelton.  This brings Surenkumar to the crease for the 10 over from Olivia Barnes.  The halfway point of the innings sees the home side in a strong position with 90 on the board for the loss of 2 with Redmayne leading with 29 from 20 while the new bat Surenkumar has 4.

However, during the 11th over Holland bowls Redmayne for 30 from 23 at 98 for 3 bringing in Brewwer before the three figures appears.  It does come up during Lola Harris's second over as the new bat gets off the mark with 2.  Skelton  returns for the 12th and with the help of Katie Jones she has Brewer stumped for 3 from 5 on the last ball of the over at 114 for 4.  In comes Wraith for the start of the 14th from Barnes while Vikusic returns for the 15th and gets some revenge as Surenkumar is caught by Holland for 28 from 20 at 127 for 5.  Taylor is in and off themark to end the over.

With 5 to go Somerset have pulled the game back a little as Taylor and Wraith look to push on but are both new to the crease.  Harris starts the last phase of the innings as the batting pair push the score into the 130s.  The star of the last game Holland takes the 17th and another run out comes courtesy of Griffiths and Jones as Wraith goes for 6 from 6 and it is 135 for 6.  Stonehouse is next to the crease as Skelton bowls out with the 18th over.  The 150 arrives from the 4th ball and Chloe completes her bowling with 1 for 37 at 151 for 6.

Vikusic takes the penultimate over  and bowls Tayler with her first for 15 from 13 balls.  She is replace by another Taylor (MLL is replaced by MSL) and while she moves on to 5, Erin finishes with another wickets as Stonehouse is caught by Alex at 1576 for 8 again for 6 from 6.  The bowler finishes her 4 overs after a hairy start with great figures of 3 for 332 - a good comeback from the returnee for this game.

Davis is the new bat for Wawrickshire with an over to go as Holland finishes for the visitors.  The Bears lose a last wicket off the last ball as Taylor comes up the wicket to try and push for more runs and is stumped by Jones.  The final score is 166 for 9 with Niamh finishing her spell with 2 for 23. David is not out 7 from her 4.  Somerset need 167 for the win.  A much better place than they were in at the turnaround point in this innings. and a decent second half fightback from the bowlers.

The Reply

Odgers and Luff start for Somerset and there is almost a disaster first ball as Alexa Stonehouse has Bex put down in the gully by Millie Taylor.  The bowler then has LUFF caught by Austin at mid off the next ball BUT it is not out because a no ball is called.  A really desperate start by the Somerset pair and they need to reset themselves.  They take 12 from the over with some extras as well and breath a sigh of relief not to be 2 down in 6 balls.

They settle during the second and Warwickshire turn to Pheobe Brett's spin in the third and Odgers tries to attack and is caught by Austin for 14 from 9 at 23 for 1.  In comes Anika Learoyd and effectively that was 'all she wrote' in this game. 

By the 5th these two were set and had passed 50 as Luff was driving with confidence and had moved to 26 from 15.  The skipper moved to a 27 ball 50 in the 8th off Warwickshire skipper Georgia Davis at 83 for 1 with 10 fours and she simply did not stop.  They went past 100 in the 10th over with Luff on 53 from 30 and Learoyd on 28 from 19 with a single off Millie Taylor.

One skipper finally says goodbye to the other skipper in the 11th as Davis bowls Luff trying a reverse sweep for 59 from 33 at 107 for 2.  Will we continue this momentum or will that be an important point in the game.  Out comes Holland with her side needing 60 at more than a run a ball.  Surenkumar and Tayloer tighten the bowling as the scoring rate slows after Sophie.  Anika now needs to take up the leading role to keep this run progress going.  By the 14th they have 133 for 2 with Learoyd on 40 from 36 and Holland on 10 from 7.  they still need 34 from 36so the game is still on.

At the start of the 16th, Holland looks to step back and sweep Pheobe Brett but misses the ball and is bowled for 16 from 12 at 142 for 3.  In comes Alex Griffiths needing 25 from 28 with Learoyd on 43 from 39.  She hits two boundaries from her next two balls to pass 50 from 41 balls and she looks totally calm as she also moves Somerset past 150 to 151 for 3 with 5 boundaries.  Back to back 50s for the Aussie in the two games so far.

They need 16 from 24 balls and in the 19th with Griffiths on 8 from 8. Anika hits the winning run to go to 60 from 49 balls and we win by 7 wickets.  Excellent game ladies well done and we carry on our undefeated run into the next game midweek.