Surrey and Sussex went neck-and-neck in the ECB Women’s 50-over match at Guildford, with the visitors clinching a hard-fought 14-run victory in the end.
Millie Taylor’s four for 32 and Phoebe Wilkinson’s 46 off 65 balls lower down the order proved match-winning as Surrey narrowly fell short of the target in the low-scoring contest.
Having restricted Sussex to 156 all out – thanks to an excellent bowling performance from Emily Burke (3/20), Charlotte Lambert (2/22) and Anjali Ketan (2/28) – Surrey began their run chase on a positive note.
13 came from the first over as Daisy Feast pulled and swept Daisy Gibb for back-to-back boundaries. Gibb, however, roared back with her sharp inswing, bowling Hannah Burridge for no score with a brilliant delivery before pinning Kirstie White lbw for nought.
Soon Surrey were in further trouble when Charlotte Stubbs was struck on her pads and given lbw off the bowling of Indigo Gentry for eight.
Skipper Amy Gordon then joined Daisy Feast, who continued to express herself and played an exquisite lofted on-drive over midwicket off Gibb. Just as it seemed like Surrey were regaining control over their run-chase, Tia Joseph ended the 37-run partnership, getting Feast caught at midwicket for 25 runs and leaving Surrey 66/4 at the end of the powerplay.
Despite the loss of regular wickets, Gordon opted for the aggressive route and unleashed several powerful strokes. She was dealing in boundaries and reached 36 from just 26 balls before Taylor ended her enterprising innings by getting her caught by Izzy Collins.
Priyanaz Chatterji and Robyn Bentley took Surrey past 100 before Sussex struck twice on 102, with Taylor dismissing Chatterji for eight and Bentley being pinned lbw by Green for five.
Claudie Cooper was the eighth batter to go when she became Taylor’s third scalp, with Surrey still needing 45 runs.
Burke and Ketan, who were brilliant with the ball, showed some fight for the visitors and took the game deep, sharing a resilient 25-run partnership. Their alliance, and Surrey’s chances, were broken by Sussex’s best bowler of the day – Millie Taylor, who had Burke caught for 21. Regina Suddahazai rounded Sussex’s victory when she bowled Ketan for 12.
Earlier in the day, having elected to bowl, Surrey started the game strongly with Lambert bowling a peach of a delivery to clean up Collins for no score.
After negotiating a testing opening spell from Lambert and Chatterji, Lucy Western (10) and Mollie Adams (17) began batting fluently before Burke came into the attack. The medium pacer had Western caught and was on a hattrick after she clean bowled Green on the next delivery. 43 for three soon became 56 for five as Stubbs got through the defences of Adams and Burke claimed her third wicket in the form of Taylor for two.
Wilkinson and Suddahazai then dug in to add 44 crucial runs and took Sussex to 100 before Ketan found the breakthrough, having Suddahazai caught at first slip.
After Gibb was dismissed by Feast for nine, with the visitors 116/7, Wilkinson decided to accelerate and batted beautifully with the tail to take Sussex past 150 before they were bowled out. Wilkinson was the last batter to fall after Lambert bowled Joseph and Ketan did the same to Curling.
