The Blaze Advance to Final as Bryce Sisters Shine Against Essex
The Blaze did not just reach the Metro Bank Women's One-Day Cup final. They stormed into it.
Needing only to avoid defeat against bottom side Essex at Queen's Park to reclaim top spot in the table from Hampshire, they brushed aside any hint of jeopardy with a ruthless nine-wicket win, wrapped up with 185 balls to spare.
By the time Sarah and Kathryn Bryce walked off, unbeaten and untroubled, the treble bid was very much alive.
Bryce sisters make light work of chase
Chasing 160, The Blaze briefly felt a flicker of pressure when Esmae MacGregor produced one ball of real quality in an otherwise ragged new-ball spell, nipping one back through Tammy Beaumont to clip the top of off stump.
That was as good as it got for Essex.
From 6-1, the Scotland internationals took charge and never loosened their grip. Sarah Bryce finished 70 not out, Kathryn 67 not out, their unbroken stand of 132 turning a potentially awkward chase into a training exercise.
They were clinical. Anything loose disappeared. Sarah cracked 10 fours, Kathryn 12 fours and a six, the latter also providing the winning boundary as she launched Essex out of the contest and The Blaze into the final.
The scoreboard said 162-1 in 19.1 overs. The performance said something stronger: this is a side playing with the confidence of serial winners, already with the Vitality Blast and Vitality T20 County Cup in the cabinet and hungry for more.
Scrivens fights lone hand as Blaze bowlers tighten the screw
Earlier, Essex’s innings had revolved almost entirely around their captain.
Grace Scrivens, still only 19 but already the heartbeat of this Essex side, carried the fight with a composed 70 from 116 balls. She watched partners come and go, held the innings together, and kept her side competitive for as long as she could.
There were early hints of promise. Bryony Gilgrass, also 19, unfurled some attractive strokes in the powerplay as she and Scrivens tried to make use of the hard new ball. That intent was cut short when seamer Cassidy McCarthy skidded one through to trap Gilgrass in front.
McCarthy struck again soon after, Jodi Grewcock cutting loosely to backward point. Essex, 80-2 at one stage, had a platform. They never built on it.
Sophie Smale briefly countered, taking McCarthy for back-to-back boundaries, but Lucy Higham dragged the momentum back in The Blaze’s favour. Smale fell lbw playing back, then Jo Gardner miscued a top edge into the leg side to give the off-spinner a second.
From there, the squeeze tightened.
Left-arm spinner Kirstie Gordon, leading The Blaze with the ball as well as the armband, trapped Mollie Adams lbw playing back. Kathryn Bryce then joined the attack and bowled Liberty Heap, and Essex slid from 80-2 to 89-6 in a collapse that all but killed their hopes of setting a testing total.
Sophie Munro offered Scrivens some much-needed support in a 41-run stand, but even that partnership ended in frustration. A misfield tempted them into a risky single; hesitation proved fatal, Munro run out and the innings stripped of its last real foothold.
Gordon, sharp and athletic off her own bowling, dived forward to cling on to a return catch and remove MacGregor. Scrivens’ resistance finally ended with a bottom edge onto her stumps. Kathryn Bryce then closed the innings in the 46th over as Abtaha Maqsood holed out to long-on.
Essex were all out for 159. Scrivens had 70; the next highest score was Smale’s 20. For The Blaze, Gordon’s 3-25 underpinned a disciplined performance, with Bryce, Higham and McCarthy all taking two wickets apiece.
Blaze set sights on Utilita Bowl showdown
Hampshire, who briefly knocked The Blaze off top spot with victory at the Utilita Bowl on Wednesday, can only watch now. Their group campaign is done. They will face the winners of Saturday’s eliminator between Surrey and Somerset next Wednesday, with the prize a shot at The Blaze in the final at the same venue on 19 September.
On this evidence, whoever comes through that side of the draw will know exactly what awaits: a Blaze team that bowls with control, fields with bite, and sends out the Bryce sisters to finish the job.
The treble is no longer just a storyline. It is the standard they are playing to.
